New Delhi: Union Road Transport and Highway Minister Nitin Gadkari took commuters of Metro rail by surprise as he boarded a train to reach a rally venue in Dwarka here.
The senior BJP leader, who was scheduled to address the rally at the DDA Grounds in Sector 14 organised by the Delhi BJP unit on the land bill, took the Metro. “Yes, it was a nice experience to travel in the metro to reach the venue. It is a fast, environment-friendly mode of transportation and it felt good,” Gadkari told PTI.
The Union minister may have delighted the crowd in the metro, however, crowd waiting for him at the rally venue, were left a tad disappointed as he arrived at the rally several hours late, by which time the crowd has thinned out. “We took the Metro from Shivaji Stadium and got down at Dwarka Sector-14 station near the venue. But, yes, due to some reasons, we got late for the rally,” an official from the minister's office said.
“Second thing is the rural infrastructure or social infrastructure...And, you tell me, if we want to build roads under PMGSY or install tubewells and water pumps, should such work be hampered because we do not have approval of 80 per cent of the people,” Gadkari said.
“So, we are keeping the consent clause out of this (rural infrastructure) as well...Besides, the acquisitions will not be for private companies,” he added.
The Land Bill is now awaiting its approval in Rajya Sabha where BJP does not enjoy a majority.
Up in arms against the legislation since the outset, Opposition Congress is already gearing up to hold a huge protest rally at the Ramlila Maidan here against it on April 19.
He further said, in the Bill, “it was being provisioned to compensate the farmers family with jobs. Besides, there is the one km-long corridor on each side of the highway for industrial growth. It is pro-farmer and not anti-farmer as the Opposition claims.”
“We do not want farmers to die of suicide if their land doesn't yield product. We want them to provide options,” he said.
The rally was also attended by several top leaders of the BJP including five MPs—Manoj Tiwari, Parvesh Singh Verma, Meenakshi Lekhi, Ramesh Bidhuri, Mahesh Giri, who also addressed the crowd, which thinned out later in the evening since Gadkari's arrival got delayed.
“The purpose of the rally is to let people know the good aspects of the Bill, about which the Opposition is trying to spread negative word,” Delhi BJP Chief Satish Upadhyay said. Lekhi alleged that people opposing the bill were like the “modern India'a landlords (zamindars).”
