Transport Minister Nitin Gadkar today accused Congress President Sonia Gandhi of misleading the country on the issue of Land Acquisition Bill. He also alleged that previous UPA government’s policies had resulted in unemployment and farmers’ suicide in the country.
Responding to a letter by Ms Gandhi, Mr. Gadkari, said under UPA’s land acquisition law not a single acre of land was acquired for irrigation and other rural and social infrastructure projects and farmers remained dependent on rains all the time.
Earlier, in her letter to Mr. Gadkari, the Congress President had rejected his offer for a dialogue on the issue saying it is a mockery as the land ordinance was unilaterally imposed by the NDA government . She had also accused the government of favouring industrialists.
Replying to criticism over the move to keep various projects out of the purview of social impact assessment clause, Mr. Gadkari said, the UPA government willingly created a system in which big land acquisition projects were out of the assessment while welfare projects run by state governments were mired in it.
The Minister said the amendments brought out by the NDA are in line with the suggestions made by Chief Ministers during a consultation exercise last year. He again urged Ms. Gandhi for an open debate on the land bill.