Chandigarh, Aug 24 (PTI) The Haryana Assembly on Tuesday passed a bill to fast-track land acquisition, even as opposition Congress demanded it be either withdrawn or referred to the House's select committee as many of its provisions are "anti-farmer".

Congress members also staged a walkout from the House over the issue on the last day of the assembly's Monsoon Session.

Also Read | Gym Owner in Ludhiana Rapes Client, Blackmails Her After Making Objectionable Videos; Booked.

The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Haryana Amendment) Bill, 2021, was passed after a lengthy debate, which saw verbal duels between the ruling and opposition benches.

Senior Congress leader B B Batra alleged that there were many shortcomings in the amendments in the bill.

Also Read | Andhra Pradesh Shocker: Six-Year-Old Boy Sodomised by Unindentified Man, Stones and Chillies Stuffed in Rectum.

"These amendments go against the aims and objectives of the principal Act of 2013 passed by Parliament," he said and demanded that the bill be either withdrawn or referred to the select committee of the assembly.

"Some provisions of the bill, including those related to land acquisition for infrastructure projects under public private partnership as well as doing away with social impact assessment, are anti-farmer and pro-corporates," Batra said.

Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is Leader of the Opposition in the assembly, said the bill is a step towards encouraging "crony capitalism".

"It seeks to vest absolute powers with the district collector in land acquisition matters," Hooda said.

Senior Congress leader Kiran Choudhary claimed that the bill had been "shoddily drafted" and many of its provisions were "anti-farmer".

"It will be better if it is referred to the select committee as this bill is totally against public interest," she said.

Congress leader Shamsher Singh Gogi said that with thousands of farmers already agitating against three central farm laws this bill would mean addition of "one more anti-farmer law".

Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, who had moved the bill in the assembly, strongly defended it and said Haryana is not the first state to bring in amendments as 16 states had already amended the 2013 Act.

He said it has been seen there is pendency in some projects as land is not acquired smoothly and added the new bill will help speed up various developmental projects.

The bill states that "to ensure that the existing infrastructural projects are completed and do not suffer and to protect the public interest, the state government intends to amend section 2 and insert section 10-A in the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, to exempt certain developmental projects, including rural infrastructure, affordable housing, industrial corridors and health and education and metro rail projects from the purview of the principal Act pertaining to conducting social impact assessment study".

Words "approval of Parliament" are to be substituted with words "or to comply with the direction given by the state legislature to the state government", it said.

Chief Minister M L Khattar told reporters after the conclusion of the Monsoon Session of the assembly that a total of 11 bills were passed in the House, six of which were passed on the last day.

He said that though the opposition tried to create ruckus by demanding that some of the bills should be referred to the select committee of the House, each bill was passed after clarifying the doubts raised by the opposition.

"We have given a chance to the opposition to point out fundamental errors but going by their old habit of criticising and questioning every public welfare work being done by the state government, this time too opposition criticised for the sake of criticism," Khattar said.

To a question on the land acquisition bill, he said it has been passed to ensure smooth commencement and completion of linear development, essential and emergency projects.

"In the said Act now a new system of land acquisition would be followed excluding social impact, while the compensation clause in the bill (principal Act) is unchanged. The bill has been passed in order to strike a balance between the needs of acquiring land and providing fair compensation to the landowners," Khattar said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)