Allahabad High Court slams brakes on land acquisition in Greater Noida

The Allahabad High Court decision on Monday striking down the acquisition of 170 hectares of land from farmers in Greater Noida has come as yet another blow to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government led by Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh. In fact, the entire issue of land acquisition in Greater Noida has snowballed into a major embarrassment for the state government.

The Greater Noida township adjoining New Delhi has been promoted as a big achievement of the UP government, involving several top builders and real estate developers who had promised dozens of high- rise residential buildings, green townships and commercial properties. Monday's court decision is the third instance of the Allahabad High Court cancelling the land acquired by the UP government.

Nearly 100 farmers of Gulistanpur village had approached the HC against land acquisition by the Greater Noida authority for " Planned industrial Development" in February 2008, and 656 farmers were promised 132 crores for the acquired land.

With the recent agitation by farmers of Bhatta- Parsaul villages leading to the death of three villagers still being fresh in public memory, there are bound to be fresh demands for the cancellation of the entire land acquisition process in Greater Noida especially with the " urgency clause" of the Land Acquisition Act also coming under a cloud.

Both Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been attacking the BSP government for its handling of the farmers' agitation against land acquisition. The issue will be raised at the forthcoming national executive meet of the BJP in Lucknow, said a BJP spokesman. The Congress spokesman said the party will intensify its agitation against the "anti- people" policies of the government.