Maya spanner in Centre’s UP projects, cost rises

Several central schemes, including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s dream project of setting up a rail coach factory at Rae Bareilly, have been gathering time and cost overruns owing to the Mayawati government’s ‘indifference’, union steel minister Beni Prasad Verma says.

Several central schemes, including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s dream project of setting up a rail coach factory at Rae Bareilly, have been gathering time and cost overruns owing to the Mayawati government’s ‘indifference’, union steel minister Beni Prasad Verma says.

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The UP government has been dithering over the transfer of 69 hectares of gram sabha land that has been earmarked for the prestigious rail project.

“Environmental clearances were lately approved, but clearances relating to factory licences are still pending”, top sources in the UP government said.

Of the 541-hectare land sanctioned, 189 hectares total government land; 69 hectares comprise land belonging to gram sabhas, while 283 hectares have been acquired from private individuals.

“The UP government has been less than forthcoming in assisting the railways to complete the “identification formalities” for grant of compensation to private individuals,” railway board officials said.

Under the January 2009 lease agreement, the state government is committed to take possession of the gram sabha land and hand it over to the railways through a “conveyance deed”. But this has not been done despite several reminders sent by the railways to the UP government in past years.

The UP government said the farmers of Rae Bareli were unhappy with the compensation paid to them for their land acquired for the coach factory. But UP Congress spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh said, “These are lies. Farmers got about 150% more than the market rate and barring eight missing families all accepted the compensation happily.”