Farmers' delegation meets chairman of Parliamentary panel on land Bill

NEW DELHI: Representatives of farmers' bodies from Delhi and adjoining states today voiced their opposition to the proposed land Bill at a meeting with BJP MP SS Ahluwalia, who is the Chairman of the Joint Committee of Parliament that is examining the contentious legislation.

The farmers' delegation was led by Dhirendra Singh, who is associated with several such organisations, like Rashtriya Kisan Union, Kisan Mazdoor Sangthan of Uttar Pradesh, Bhartiya Kisan Union, etc.

They discussed their concerns with Ahluwalia and submitted a memorandum pointing at the losses that farmers in Delhi-NCR are going to face once the Bill was cleared.

The delegation complained that the land Ordinance is completely nullifying certain sections of the old Bill which, they claimed, protected the interests of farmers. Changes brought in to the earlier law are for "suiting the corporate and the rich only", they added.

The delegation also cited "huge land tracts" around Noida Expressway and Yamuna Expressway which they claimed were acquired in the last decade but still lying idle.

Farmers of Bhatta Parsaul, from where Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi had launched an agitation in 2011, complained that their entire agitation against land acquisition was going to waste.

They said that they will not take it lying down and hit the streets against the ordinance.

The delegation questioned the "hurry" to implement the Ordinance when their resettlement issues were still pending.

Failing to convert it into an Act for a lack of numbers in Rajya Sabha, the government recently re-promulgated the land Ordinance for a third time even as the joint committee of Parliament constituted to look into the matter held its first meeting on May 29 to deliberate at length over the Ordinance.

The panel is meeting again on Monday.