Govt diluted Land Acquisition Act for bullet-train project

New Delhi, May 2: Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel has accused the Gujarat government of implementing a "diluted" version of the Land Acquisition Act for land acquisition for the bullet-train project and doing away with farmers' consent and impact assessment.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, released to the media on Wednesday, Patel sought his intervention and called for the implementation of the 2013 Act in letter and spirit, saying that any deviation will "result in grave injustice to the farmers and farm labourers of Gujarat".

"Our objective is not to obstruct the project. But in the process of building a bullet train, we can't bulldoze the constitutional rights of farmers. I sincerely hope you will have the matter examined and the needful will be done at the earliest," he added.