Chennai: Condemning the ordinance on the land acquisition Act as anti-farmer, the CPI (M) on Thursday asked the Centre to rescind it and urged the state government not to implement it in the state.The promulgation of an ordinance to amend a law was against Parliamentary democracy, said a resolution adopted by the Marxist party at its state secretariat meeting here. The ordinance to amend the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 received Presidential assent on December 31, 2014.

“This ordinance is against the interests of farmers and it could deprive them of land which is their source of livelihood. It is nothing but a measure to allow big businesses and corporates to acquire agricultural land without any restriction,” the resolution said. The ordinance has already been opposed by parties, including Congress, DMK, MDMK and NDA ally, PMK, in the state.

Another resolution urged the State government to take steps to bring down the price of cement, which was increased by Rs 100 per bag recently, and also sought action against those who were responsible for the artificial price hike. The rise in the price of cement had come at a time when the public and construction workers were already affected by the rise in the price of river sand and other construction materials, said a resolution, adopted at the meeting on Thursday. It alleged that the cement price had been hiked only for the profiteer-
ing of cement manufacturers and wholesale dealers.

The state government should fix Rs3,500 per tonne as the support price for sugarcane farmers immediately, it said. The state should arrange for sugar mill owners to disburse `363 crore worth of pending arrears to cane ryots.