Railways ready with Plan B

Even as the Railways are confident of securing a favourable decision from the Allahabad High Court in the case, which comes up for hearing on October 22, the possibility of acquiring the said land under the Act is being readied as Plan B.

8220;Since negotiations with the state government was already on, the use of the Act was not considered earlier. However, nothing prevents the Railways from acquiring land under this Act, if required,8221; the official added.

As far as the ongoing litigation is concerned, the ministry is building up its case on the argument that the UP government8217;s decision to sell off 189 hectares of land in Rae Bareli to the Indian Railways came after protracted negotiations were carried out for almost a year during which both the parties mutually negotiated the terms of the land deal. 8220;In July this year the UP government decided to sell the land to the Railways. The sum of Rs 9 crore, determined as the cost of the land by the state authorities themselves, was paid to the UP government in August. The possession of the land was handed over to the Railways in September,8221; a ministry official said.

8220;The land deal was negotiated at various levels in the UP government. The purpose for buying this land was always known and there was no malafide intention on the part of the Railways. The price of the land was paid to the UP government, the mutation in revenue records was carried out and the possession was handed over to the Railways. This kind of a transaction is irreversible,8221; explained an official.

The ministry is also building up its case over the argument that the land in question is infertile and can8217;t be of any use for agricultural purposes. 8220;In fact, efforts made to try out farming on this land were made by a local agriculture centre, but it did not yield any result,8221; a source said.

Announced in the Supplementary Demand for Grants in 2007, the foundation stone for this factory was laid by Sonia Gandhi in February this year. The Railways plan to procure 840 state-of-the-art coaches annually from this factory for a 10-year period, starting 2010-11. The ministry8217;s plans include getting air-conditioned double-decker coaches manufactured at this unit with the ministry eyeing procurement of at least 20 double-decker trains, having 24 coaches each, by 2021 from this factory.

Congress puts up 8216;divided8217; show for Rae Bareli project
A day after UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi claimed she was prepared to go to jail for the sake of development, her partymen failed to come up with a united front to protest against the state government8217;s decision to take back allotted land for the proposed rail coach factory at Rae Bareli.

On Wednesday, two groups took out separate processions from the party office in Lucknow and courted arrest to protest against the UP government8217;s decision. While one group of about 40 was led by Satya Dev Tripathi, a former minister, the other group of 60-odd workers was led by youth wing leader Yogesh Dixit. They were let off by the police in the evening.

State Congress spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh accused the state government of going back on its commitments. He presented the minutes of an official meeting held in July last year, where the state government had accepted seven developmental projects of the Centre in Amethi and Rae Bareli.

Jatin Prasad, Union Minister of State for Steel, also met the media and said the Mayawati government8217;s decision was 8220;against the youth of Uttar Pradesh8221; because the project would have created new employment opportunities. 8220;Mayawati is doing exactly the same thing for which she has accused the Congress and the Samajwadi Party. In her own village Badalpur, she is developing a selected area by encroaching upon land,8221; he alleged.