Opposition misleading farmers: KCR

​Hyderabad: The State government on Wednesday turned down the proposal of the Congress and the TDP to refer the Land Acquisition Bill to a select committee.

Replying to a discussion on the Bill, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao accused the opposition parties of instigating farmers to turn against the Mallanna Sagar and other projects, though about 75% of the people were ready to give up their land and the government had promised appropriate compensation for the project oustees.

The farmers had been misled by the Congress and other parties, the Chief Minister said. The government had promised to give double bedroom houses to the project oustees, besides compensating them by paying thrice the land registration value. No other government had offered such fair compensation, he claimed.

KCR said that the Left parties were creating unnecessary fuss over the land acquisition and were posing threat to the lives of farmers. This had forced him to take a decision on imposing prohibitory orders under section 144.

The orders to impose restrictions on the opposition parties were given by him based on the intelligence reports he had about the trouble that could have been created by those creating hurdles in the project works.

The Chief Minister said that the government was aiming to make farmers in Karimnagar and Warangal districts raise two crops with enough irrigation facilities like in the case of the twin Godavari districts of AP. It would be a reality soon, he averred.

KCR asserted that the TRS government would not do any injustice to farmers. He sought to know whether projects like Nagarjuna Sagar, Srisailam and SRSP would have materialized if there was no land acquisition.

Congress deputy floor leader T Jeevan Reddy said that the Centre had brought the Land Acquisition Act to check rampant land acquisition for projects.

But, the TRS government had been resorting to forcible land acquisition. Although the government was supposed to revise the rates of lands two times in the past four years, it did not do so and this had denied the project affected people a handsome compensation.

The Bill would not stand legal scrutiny and would eventually lead to an embarrassment for the government, he said.

Leader of Opposition K Jana Reddy took strong objection to the introduction of the Bill. The government did not have the power to make a law that would modify provisions under the LA Act, 2013, he said.

He demanded enactment of a separate piece of legislation to provide additional compensation to the project oustees. BJP floor leader in the Assembly G Kishen Reddy said that it would be better for the government to bring a new act to enhance the compensation.

He alleged that the government had been acquiring lands under the protection of the police. The government should acquire the lands after convincing the people. Telugu Desam floor leader in the Assembly A Revanth Reddy wanted the bill to be referred to a select committee.