By IANS
Lucknow : Apparently worried over the virtually united opposition to her proposed 1,000-km Ganga Expressway to be built along the river in the state, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has offered sops that are unlikely to be easily refused.
The proposed ‘access control’ eight-lane highway is aimed at establishing a fast track link between the two farthest ends (east and west) of her state, thereby drastically bringing down the commuting time between Varanasi and New Delhi.
The unique part of the offer is a shareholding to those whose land would be acquired for the expressway. “Land owners would be given the liberty to convert up to 10 percent of the payable compensation towards their acquired land into shares of the company building the expressway,” Mayawati told a press conference here Monday evening.
Describing this as an “unprecedented and unique offer”, the chief minister said “The state cabinet has also decided to allot free of cost residential plots measuring 150 sq m in the urban areas and 250 sq m in rural areas to all those whose land is acquired for the purpose.”
“In addition, they would also be entitled to 15 percent quota in allotment of flats and plots developed in industrial pockets, developed along the expressway,” she said.
The offer package also includes payment of a monthly displacement allowance equivalent to the minimum wage for a period of one year from the date of displacement to each family. This would be in addition to a lump sum ex gratia payment of Rs.25,000 towards construction of an alternative work shed to each of them. Besides, another sum of Rs.10,000 would be payable towards cost of shifting.
“We would take special care to avoid acquisition of agricultural land and every effort would be made to acquire only barren and non-agricultural land for the expressway,” she clarified.
“The expressway would not only transform the so far untapped left bank of the Ganga river, but also generate such economic activity all along the 1,000-km route that would give a new fillip to the economy of the entire state,” she emphasized.
The opposition parties are opposing the proposed expressway, saying it would result in displacement of farmers.