Congress: NCP walk out of land acquisition meet

New Delhi, June 29 (SURYAA) The Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders on Thursday walked out of a meeting of a Joint Parliamentary Committee on Land Acquisition, saying it should be dissolved as it serves no purpose.

Informed sources said Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh, P.L. Punia and K.V. Thomas and NCP chief Sharad Pawar walked out after submitting a letter to the Chairman of the Committee, S.S. Ahluwalia.

Punia said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had eventually relented on its efforts to change the landmark Land Acquisition Act passed during the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating on August 30, 2015 that the government will allow the ordinance brought by it to lapse.

He said since the law enacted during the UPA government is not to be amended, the committee should be dissolved.

"What is the relevance of the committee? So we walked out saying that they are hoodwinking the farmers. Either Modi made a wrong statement or else farmers are being hoodwinked," Punia said.

The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015 was referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee in May 2015.