BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Monday announced that it cannot stop land acquisition for development projects till passage of new Land Acquisition Bill in Parliament. Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Surjya Narayan Patro told this paper that the Government’s stand is for all projects, including Posco. The Minister said this in response to a question on BJP’s demand for a halt to land acquisition for Posco. BJP leader and former Revenue minister BB Harichandan had demanded a halt till the passage of the Bill scheduled to be tabled in the coming session of Parliament. Several Congress leaders have also been demanding that the Government should suspend land acquisition at Posco as the Bill is going to be passed in the Parliament soon. Patro, however, said he had been hearing about Land Acquisition Act for the last four years. “Is there any guarantee that the Bill will be passed this time,” the Minister asked, adding development activities cannot be stopped. The Government, he said, would certainly ensure that the affected people get maximum benefit after the Act comes into force. The new legislation will be enforced after it becomes a law, he said and added the State also has its own rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) policy. Official sources maintained that the renewal of the MoU with Posco is going to be delayed further. The State Government has sought Posco’s view on swapping of iron ore clause which the former wants to delete in the fresh MoU. The Government had postponed its renewal till July-end. Even though preliminary work is in progress at the project site, there is no consensus on the swapping clause.
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