Ahmed Patel writes to PM over bullet-train project land acquisition
Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel has expressed his reservations over the way farmers' land was being acquired for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project and wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention. Stating that farmers' constitutional rights were being "bulldozed", the Rajya Sabha MP said the land must be acquired under the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement Act, 2013. Here's more.
Rights of farmers over agriculture land were being trampled
"For long, the rights of Farmers and farm laborers over agriculture land were being trampled upon by large and powerful interests," Patel said in the letter. The National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRC) and the district officials are in the process of acquiring agricultural land from farmers in several districts of South Gujarat for the bullet train project, the letter added.
Farmers complained rules were not followed for procuring land
"Farmers representatives have complained that rules and procedures laid down under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013, were not being followed," Patel's letter said. Patel said public consultation process for those whose land needs to be acquired is being conducted in a manner contrary to what is "mandated in the Act".
Land acquisition is being carried out under Gujarat Act
"Instead of the Land Act, 2013 passed by the Lok Sabha, the acquisition of land is being carried out under the diluted version of the Act passed subsequently by Gujarat Assembly," Patel said. "As per the regulations in Act passed by Gujarat, the need for mandatory consent of farmers and social impact assessment has been done away with," he claimed.
Farmers oppose land acquisition process
These omissions in the Act "descend down to mere tokenism", the Congress leader said adding, farmers have opposed the land acquisition process for metro trains in meetings with the officials of the NHSRC. "Our objective is not to obstruct the project the government is undertaking. But in the process of building a bullet train, we can't bulldoze the constitutional rights of farmers," he said.
Former PM Manmohan Singh slammed bullet train project
Earlier, former PM Manmohan Singh had criticized the bullet train project, dubbing it as an "exercise in vanity", and said the government's "priorities are misplaced" as it should have focused on the existing passenger rail network. Former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram had recently said that 99% of India's population would not be able to travel in "elitist" bullet train.
PM Narendra Modi launched bullet project in September 2017
In September last year, PM Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe had launched the ambitious project entailing a total cost of around Rs. 1.10 lakh crore. Japan is extending a loan of Rs. 88,000 crore for the project at a minimal interest of 0.1%.
