CHANDIGARH, SEPT 19
The government showed flexibility on Land Acquisition Bill in order to protect farmers’ interests, said Mr Birender Singh, Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Sanitation & Drinking Water. He was addressing a press conference in Chandigarh today. The Minister said that the Bill has been referred to the Join Parliamentary Committee and the government has an open mind on the issue. Referring to Haryana, Shri Singh said that 37 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) were floated in the state and land acquired for them by the previous government, but only 6 are functional. He demanded that the erstwhile government should explain on the issue.
Elaborating on the Shayama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission (SPMRM) to drive economic social and infrastructure development in rural areas, the Minister said that 300 clusters of villages are planned to be developed across the country for providing the rural folk all urban amenities and facilities. The scheme has a total outlay of Rs. 5142.08 corres. Around Rs. 55 crores will be spent on each cluster for promoting economic activity and ensuring value addition to the local produce. 14 components have been suggested as desirable for the cluster, which include skill development training linked to economic activities, agro processing/agri services/ storage and warehousing, digital literacy, sanitation, provision of piped water supply, solid and liquid waste management etc.
The Minister said that each cluster will cover a population of 25000 to 50000. Each state will have at least one such cluster while bigger states can have several such clusters. This is expected to promote Smart Villages and check migration towards cities. Of these, 100 clusters will be launched this year. The Minister also gave a brief on the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana and said that 690 MPs have given their consent for adoption of villages under SAGY. By October 2016, first phase of village under SAGY would be developed, he said.
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