Onboard PM`s Special Aircraft: Faced by
farmer protests in Uttar Pradesh and other areas on the issue
of land acquisition, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday 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
