Mayawati unveils new land acquisition policy

Faced with a backlash of the farmers over the land acquisition policy and repressions in the Bhatta-Parsaul village, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday announced a new land policy to be implemented from Thursday itself.

The new policy, which aims at blunting Rahul Gandhi’s farmers’ movement in Uttar Pradesh, calls for direction acquisition from farmers by the private developers.

She also is meeting a delegation of farmers led by Bharatiya Kisan Union’s Rakesh Tikait as Lucknow hosts a farmers’ panchayat during the day.

She said it is a landmark move to formulate the policy since it is made with the inclusion of the farmers’ representation and after incorporating their wishes and demands.

She said under the new law the government will only be the facilitator of land transfer and the land will be directly acquired by the developer of the projects and not the government.

She said all will be decided with the consent of 70 percent farmers.

She said 16 percent of the developed land would have to be given back to the farmers.

She said farmers problem can be solved only after meeting them and hearing them.

The UP chief minister earlier treated the farmers’ delegation warmly and they had put up in a VVIP guest house.

She said over land acquisition there is some tussle or other in every state and so she decided to make new policies with the active participation of farmers.

She said she earlier wrote several letters to the Centre on a national land acquisition policy but to no avail.

“We will press for it in Parliament,” she said, stressing for a national policy.

She slammed the Opposition by saying that instead of raising the issues in New Delhi, they are making Uttar Pradesh a hub of dirty politics over farmers’ issue.

She assured the farmers of Bhatta-Parsaul that they would get justice.

The new policy is seen as an attempt by Mayawati to change her anti-farmer image and to neutralize the political benefits the Congress led by Rahul Gandhi reaped over the Bhatta-Parsaul episode.

Congress has alleged killings and rapes in Bhatta-Parsaul in Greater Noida’s Gautam Buddh Nagar district to browbeat the farmers and the National Commission for Women also backed the charges to some extent holding that women were paraded naked and molested by policemen.

The charges were trashed by Mayawati.

The farmers were demanding higher compensation for their land.