Having been pushed to the defensive owing to developments related to land acquisition, the Bahujan Samaj Party regime in Uttar Pradesh on Monday said the compensation given to farmers by the State in the last few years was more than the compensation given by the Union government to those whose land were acquired for Central projects.
A State government spokesman said in a release that despite the better returns to farmers, some anti-social elements were trying to provoke them against the government. The State's land acquisition and rehabilitation policy was pro-farmer and it was the most progressive one in the country.
The government release, however, was silent on how much land was acquired from farmers for development and infrastructure projects.
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The spokesman said that while land compensation in Noida was being given at the rate of Rs. 44 lakh an acre and Greater Noida at Rs. 22 lakh, the Yamuna Expressway Authority was gave compensation at rates ranging from Rs. 22 lakh to Rs. 35 lakh per acre. In fact, the compensation by the Noida Aevelopment Authority, which was Rs. 20 lakh an acre in 2006-07, doubled to Rs. 44 lakh in the last five years.
Drawing a parallel with the compensation given to farmers whose land were acquired for a rail coach factory in Rae Bareli (Sonia Gandhi's constituency), the spokesman said landowners in the Dalmau tehsil were given compensation at the rate of Rs. 2.9 lakh and Rs. 4.35 lakh an acre.
Again, while the Ghaziabad Development Authority had paid farmers at the rate of Rs. 44 lakh an acre, the compensation rate given by the National Highways Authority of India in Ghaziabad was Rs. 32 lakh an acre, the spokesman said.
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