UP CM cancels land deal for a rail coach factory in Rae Bareli, Sonia’s pet project
UP CM cancels land deal for a rail coach factory in Rae Bareli, Sonia’s pet project
LUCKNOW: In what is being seen as a fresh salvo against the Congress and its chief Sonia Gandhi, UP CM Mayawati on Sunday cancelled the acquisition of land for an ambitious rail coach factory project in Rae Bareli.
Sonia, who represents Rae Bareli in the Lok Sabha, was to visit the coach factory site on Tuesday. The state government has cited local farmers’ resentment over land acquisition as the main reason behind this decision.
The CM’s principal secretary Vijay Shankar Pande said the Rae Bareli district magistrate (DM) Santosh Kumar Srivastava had sent a report on October 10 stating that anger was building up among the local people over acquisition of land for the coach factory.
The Congress has reacted strongly to the Maya government’s decision terming it “anti-development”. UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi said: “This is a disgusting example of petty politics scoring over a state’s development… hundreds of crores of investment and thousands of jobs would be lost,”
she said. She said Mayawati’s decision was guided by vengeance and vested interests.
However, the government has strongly defended its decision. “In his report, the DM pointed out that the situation was getting increasingly explosive and any untoward incident could take place any time, causing a serious law and order problem… The coach factory project will need an additional 700 acres of land and this will lead to resentment in other villages also,” said Vijay Shankar Pande.
He said the state government had acquired and transferred 189.25 hectares in Dalmau and Lalganj blocks in Rae Bareli. “The government has asked the DM to provide land for the project at an alternate site,” he stated.
Later, addressing a hurriedly convened press conference, Rita Bahuguna Joshi charged Mayawati with “taking revenge for the Congress agitation in Dadri and Badalpur against forced land acquisition”.
“What the chief minister is forgetting is that the land for railway coach factory was for the development of the state and not any one individual or party. Mayawati is trying to stall the development of UP. She has also withheld the ‘no objection certificate’ for three other projects in Rae Bareli, namely the Hindustan Paper Mills, the CRPF Recruiting Centre and the Niper Pharmaceuticals research centre,” the UPCC chief said.
Asked about the fate of Sonia’s programme in Rae Bareli on Tuesday, Joshi said the decision would be taken by the railway ministry. She stated the UP Congress would protest the Mayawati government on the issue, after discussing the matter with the Congress president.
g_deepak@dnaindia.net 
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