By IANS
Bhiwani (Haryana) : United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chief Sonia Gandhi Wednesday said the compensation model followed by the Haryana government to acquire farm land for special economic zones (SEZ) should be emulated across the country.
Addressing a public meeting here, she lauded the role of the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government in giving adequate compensation to farmers for land taken from them to set up SEZs. Gandhi said the model could be implemented in other states where SEZs were coming up.
Haryana Chief Minister Hooda said his government had worked out adequate compensation to farmers after Gandhi last year asked Congress governments not to ignore the interests of farmers while implementing SEZ projects.
Hooda said he had announced a compensation of Rs.15,000 per acre for farmers as an annuity for 33 years for acquiring their land and Rs.30,000 an acre for 33 years for acquiring land to develop SEZs. The decision was announced this month.
“After the creation of Haryana, all development has taken place under Congress governments. I compliment Hooda and his team for accelerating the development pace,” Gandhi said.
Expressing concern at the dismal sex ratio in Haryana, Gandhi said: “I am proud of the courageous women of Haryana but I am quite concerned about the reports of female foeticide in the state. This pains me a lot.
“You should consider every girl as goddess Lakshmi. We should not only stop the declining sex ratio but work for making it better,” she said.
Earlier, she launched the Rajiv Gandhi bridges and roads infrastructure development programme costing Rs.30 billion (Rs.3,000 crore) for Haryana at Charkhi Dadri in Bhiwani district. The project envisages the building and strengthening of roads and building bridges.