Jayalalithaa red flags changes in provisions in Land Bill

New Delhi, Jul 15: Tamil Nadu today asked the Centre not to go ahead with enacting the new land acquisition bill saying some of the provisions like the one relating to Social Impact Assessment were strongly opposed by the farmers in the state.

In her remarks at the meeting of NITI Aayog's Governing Council today, to which she had sent her printed speech to be taken on record as she could not make it due to "pressing official work", Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said her government has been consistent in its stance that land is a state subject.

"Even at the very beginning, we were firm on the principle that the concept of 'eminent domain' should not be invoked for acquisition of land for use by private companies as was proposed in the original Bill.

"I had also strongly opposed the amendment proposed in the (NDA government's) Ordinance that the consent clause should not cover land acquisition for private hospitals and private educational institutions," she said.

A key feature of the Amendment Bill was the introduction of a 'new Section 10A,' which she said lists projects in Defence and defence production besides rural infrastructure.

It also covers electrification, affordable housing and housing for the poor, industrial corridors, infrastructure and social infrastructure projects, including projects under public private partnership (PPP), where the ownership of the land continues to vest with the Government.

Powers had been conferred on state governments to exempt such projects from the requirement of conducting 'Social Impact Assessment (SIA)' and 'Special Provisions for Safeguarding Food Security' as well as the requirement of obtaining 'Consent' from a fixed percentage of affected families when land is acquired for PPP and private sector projects, she said.

PTI