Mamata Banerjee today lent her voice to a pitch to facilitate Land Acquisition for a life-saving project — an uncommon plea that betrayed the government’s frustration at the slow pace despite the urgency and the promise of generous compensation. The chief minister persuaded the people of Sunderbans to offer their land to build embankments in low-lying areas of South 24-Parganas, which were devastated by the Aila cyclone in 2009. The embankment project...

-The Times of India   The filing of nomination by a tribal woman for the panchayat samiti polls at Gadakujang in Jagatsinghpur district, the epicenter of the anti-Posco agitation, has sparked fresh controversy over the presence of tribals in the area. Posco Pratirodhaka Sangram Samiti (PPSS) general secretary Sishir Mohapatra said, "The decision of Meena Hembram and Sara Das has belied the state government's claims that the area doesn't have any tribal population."...

-The Telegraph   Land protesters today uprooted a portion of the fencing for the airport city project at Andal near Durgapur claiming the plot belonged to them and alleged that they were yet to get compensation. The crowd of over 50, which included farmers, share-croppers and farm labourers, marched to the site in Dakshinkhanda area, 200km from Calcutta, around 11.30am. They first shouted slogans and then yanked off barbed wires put up for the...

-The Telegraph CPM leader Lakshman Seth has been accused of murder in a CID chargesheet over the disappearance of six anti-Land Acquisition protesters during the party’s recapture of Nandigram in November 2007. The chargesheet, submitted to the Haldia sub-divisional court around 5.10pm, also names 87 other CPM leaders and workers. “Seth has been mentioned in the chargesheet as an accused who is absconding,” a senior CID official said. Hours after the CID submitted the...

-The Hindu It will make Land Acquisition more difficult for private players The Union government proposes to take yet another shot at the crucial land reforms agenda in a bid to help the rural poor affected by a host of land issues and inflation. Having introduced the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill in Parliament, Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh, who also holds the Department of Land Resources, aims to address...