Akali Dal to oppose land acquisition without farmers' consent

Chandigarh, March 3 (IANS) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday said it will oppose any move by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government which will seek to allow land acquisition without the consent of farmers or landowners.

The Akali Dal, a partner in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, adopted a resolution in this regard during its core committee meet convened in the national capital Tuesday.

The meeting was chaired by Akali Dal president and Punjab deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, in the presence of the party's patron and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and other senior Akali Dal leaders.

It was called to formulate the party's response to the proposed bill on land acquisition due to come before parliament this week.

"The meeting today cleared the party's stand on the proposed land acquisition bill and passed a resolution in which the SAD (Akali Dal) decided to oppose any land acquisition without the express consent of a majority of the farmers/landowners whose land is to be acquired," a party spokesman said.

"The party also decided that the land should only be acquired for public purposes and the government should not get into acquisition for private entities," he added.

The resolution also said that where land is acquired, farmers should be given the option of accepting compensation at market rates, plus displacement allowance.

The farmers should not be denied the right to approach the court for redress of grievances, it added.

The Akali Dal and the BJP have been running an alliance government in Punjab since 2007.

Sukhbir Singh Badal's wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal is the union food processing minister in the Narendra Modi government.

Agrarian state Punjab contributes over 50 percent of foodgrains, wheat and paddy, to the national kitty despite having only 1.54 percent of the country's geographical area.