Khangshim,29th Oct ,2013
A three-day Public Information Campaign organised by the Press Information Bureau(PIB), Imphal has kicked off today at Koshang Memorial Community Hall at Khangshim Village, Chandel district, Manipur.
In the afternoon session, BrozendraNingomba, Senior Journalist, spoke on the Land Acquisition Bill. He said, every time the government planned to acquire land, whether in Manipur or Assam or West Bengal or any other state in the country, for certain developmental project, people of the particular area where the government was planning to acquire, became worried.The residents or farmers got together and decided to fight the government’s move. Because the people are sure that once the government acquired their homestead or farm land, they would be left landless and homeless.
The amount of compensation given to them is peanuts, and their means of livelihood is lost. Once their land had been taken, the government would never care how the people would survive.Therefore no one wants to give away their land to the government, Brozendra said.
In order to do away with the archaic law, the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, which makes the land owners victims, the UPA government has introduced a new bill, Land Acquisition Bill, said Brozendra. This new bill will balance the need for development with the rights of the land owners.
Under this new bill, farmers in rural areas will be given compensation four times higher than the present market value of the land, and the land owners in urban areas will be given compensation for their land twice the present market value of the land.
Under the new bill, the land owner whose land had been taken away will be given new home, and if he doesn’t want to accept the home, he will be given adequate money for building a new home of his own of his choice, he said.
ISSUED BY PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, IMPHAL
LPD/YLS/L-77 29/10/2013 1400hrs
