Railways lays claim to Rae Bareli factory land

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 3 : Mayawati’s olive branch of providing 189 hectares of land for the Rae Bareli coach factory on a “90 year lease” to Indian Railways has failed to put to rest the land allotment controversy.

Rejecting Mayawati’s latest offer, the Railway Ministry has decided to press its claim of being the legitimate owner of the land in the ongoing litigation in the Allahabad High Court. “The land in question belongs to the Indian Railways. It is in the name of Indian Railways in revenue records and it’s price has been paid. Railways also have the possession of the land. Having sold the land off, the state Government has no claim on the land and hence it cannot give our land back to us on lease,” a top Railways Ministry official told The Indian Express. The ongoing case in the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court comes up for hearing next on November 11.

The Railway Ministry is building its case on the ground that the transaction between Indian Railways and the Uttar Pradesh government followed a year-long negotiation process whereby both the “lease” and the “outright sale” options were made available to the UP government. “The UP government chose to sell the land to the Railways in July this year. Railways paid the Rs 9 crore amount as the cost of the land in August and we took possession in early September, “ the official added. “The state government’s latest decision portrays that it does not recognise Railways as the owner of the land. This is what we are going to contest,” he added.

On October 12, two days before UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi was slated to perform “bhoomi poojan” at the proposed factory site, the Mayawati government cancelled the sale of land to Railways, only to make a U-turn a week later and provide the land on a lease.

Source: indianexpress.com