Comprehensive land acquisition bill soon: Govt

The government is formulating a comprehensive land acquisition bill that will address concerns about process of acquiring land for purposes such as setting up SEZs and compensation to be paid. Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, Minister of State for Agriculture K V Thomas said a group of ministers (GoM) was considering a bill to reform land acquisition law.

“Government of India proposes to bring a comprehensive Land Acquisition Bill soon,” he said.

Land comes under the purview of the state governments.

However, to prevent conversion of agriculture land for non-agriculture purposes, the Centre has in place the National Policy for Farmers, 2007 which envisages that prime farmland must be conserved for agriculture, he said.