Onboard PM's Special Aircraft, May 28: Faced by farmer protests in Uttar Pradesh and other areas on the issue of land acquisition, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said there was need for thinking afresh on the “very sensitive” matter and promised to bring in the monsoon session of Parliament a legislation that will protect their interests.
“On land acquisition, we need to think afresh. We have a Bill that has been on the table for quite some time and we are committed to bring this Bill for approval by Parliament in the next monsoon session,” he told reporters on his way back from Tanzania at the end of his six-day visit to Africa.
“I do recognise that land acquisition has become a very sensitive issue and acquisition of prime land arouses valid concerns,” he said.
The Prime Minister was asked about protests by farmers in Greater Noida and how government proposed to deal with the issue.
He said the issue relating to farmers has been sensitive and will remain so and “we have to take care of it”. At the same time, he appealed to political parties not to politicise the issue.
“I think industrialisation is essential for the country to solve the problem of unemployment and problem of poverty.
That process has to be equitable. One way to ensure this is that land possession does not become an instrument of depriving our farmers, their livelihood,” he said. PTI
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