Land Acquisition Ordinance is 'pro-farmer', says BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday claimed the Land Acquisition Ordinance brought by the Centre is a pro-farmer ordinance."It is a pro-farmer ordinance that the government has brought. Four times compensation would be given to the farmers in the rural area and all the provisions that have been made in this act are to see to it that the rural areas develop," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told ANI here."The 13 Acts of Parliament which had been kept out of the ambit of Resettlement and Rehabilitation of the Act in fact have been brought within the purview of the Act now with this ordinance," he added. Patra further said that the Centre would take a note of veteran social activist Anna Hazare's suggestions on the ordinance."Anna Hazare is a very respectable person, we all respect him. If he has suggestions, definitely we are sure that the government will take a note of his suggestions," he said. Hazare, who will be holding a protest at the Jantar Mantar here against the recent amendments in the Land Acquisition Act by the Centre, had earlier lashed out at the BJP-led government for removing provisions which provided taking the farmers' consent before acquiring their land.