BHUBANESWAR, July 12: While the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 1998 awaits parliamentary clearance, experts feel that the Bill when made into an Act will have a disastrous effect on the common people, especially the tribals.Speaking at a workshop organised to debate over the Bill, here, on Saturday, the experts alleged that the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 1998 has been prepared to make land acquisition easier and curtail people's rights. The workshop was organised by Sanhati, an alliance of voluntary agencies.``There is no reference in the Bill to the proposed National Rehabilitation Policy (NRP), 1998, which has been drafted recently. The Land Acquisition Act has to be based on the NRP, but unfortunately the present Bill takes away what the proposed draft NRP seems to give,'' said Chairman of Programme for Tribal Studies of the Indian Social Institute Dr Walter Fernandes.
