Thaindian News

Lucknow, June 1 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati may do away with the state government’s role in acquisition of land for private industrial or commercial development, an official said Wednesday.

To thrash out a novel land acquisition policy, she has invited farmers’ representatives from different corners of the state for a ‘kisan panchayat’ here Thursday that would set the pace for major changes in the state’s land acquisition policy.

“Nearly 200 representatives of farmers from across the state have already arrived here on an invitation of the chief minister, who will hold a meeting with them here tomorrow,” a top official in the chief minister’s office told IANS.

“The chief minister is contemplating a completely new policy whereby the state government will not acquire land sought by the private sector for industrial or commercial development,” he said.

“We were working on a proposal whereby settlement of compensation would be negotiated directly between the farmer and the organisation seeking land, with the government limiting its role to that of a facilitator,” he said.

According to him, “several other changes in the existing acquisition policy would be made in accordance with the needs and demands of the farmers”.

A broad framework of the desired amendments in the existing acquisition policy is understood to have been drawn up by Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh, who was stated to be the key man behind the move.

Earlier, Mayawati had asked Agriculture Minister Chaudhary Laxmi Narain to hold talks with farmers after anti-land acquisition protests in Tappal and Bhatta-Parsaul villages in Greater Noida.