HYDERABAD: Alleging that the new land bill, ‘Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Telangana Amendment) Bill, 2016,’ passed by the Assembly, is aimed at converting the government into a “land mafia” to snatch away lands from farmers in the name of projects, the Congress has urged President Pranab Mukherjee to reject the bill when it comes to him for his assent.
“The state amended the key provisions of the R&R Act, 2013, passed by Parliament during the UPA regime, and removed safeguards such as social impact assessment and R&R package, and other benefits provided to landowners. The state’s proposed law is an attempt to take away the hard-fought rights and protections to the affected families in the name of administrative convenience in acquiring lands for projects,” a delegation led by TPCC chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy told him.
After calling on the President at Rashtrapati Nilayam at Bollaram here on Friday, the Congress leaders submitted a memorandum to him.
The memorandum told the President that Section 107 of R&R Act, 2013 makes it clear that no amendments be made to it unless the proposed changes are aimed at improving the benefits. It is clear that the amendments made by the government will dilute the protections.
Ahead of return to Delhi, Prez hosts ‘At Home’
Rashtrapati Nilayam wherein President Pranab Mukherjee has been staying as part of his annual southern sojourn, was on Friday abuzz with the presence of various political heavyweights in the state including chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and his two deputies including Mahmood Ali and K Srihari. A day ahead of his return to national capital, President Pranab on Friday hosted ‘At Home’ at Rashtrapathi Nilayam.
Focus on blue revolution to boost fish production,says Minister
The government was ushering blue revolution for improving the production of fish substantially in the state, fisheries minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav said. The minister made this remark while speaking on “Development of Fisheries in the State” in the Legislative Assembly on Friday. He said that the state was endowed with 74 reservoirs, 4,324 irrigation tanks and 19,746 minor irrigation tanks. “The total requirement of fish seed is 40.39 crore for stocking in the water bodies,” he said. The fish production during 2015-16 was 2.37 lakh tonnes. Srinivas Yadav explained that about 3,26,154 members were registered in 3,977 fishermen and women cooperative societies in the state.