Somewhere in Uttar Pradesh....

The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday passed a bill in the assembly that will prevent farmers from reclaiming their land once it’s acquired. The Uttar Pradesh Urban Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2011 was passed amid protests in the assembly before it was adjourned sine die. The legislation replaces an earlier provision that allowed farmers to reclaim their acquired land if it remained unused for more than five years. The amendment was passed on the last day of the assembly’s monsoon session. The bill comes amid growing instances of farmers wanting their land back. This has stalled various projects, particularly in Noida. The amendment empowers the government to keep the unused land as long as it wants. It contradicts the Congress-led UPA government’s proposed land acquisition and rehabilitation law that would give farmers the right to reclaim the acquired land lying unused for five years. Farmers from Gautam Budh Nagar’s Nithari, Chaura Sadarpur and Morna filed a petition in the Allahabad high court on Thursday to get back their land acquired in 1976. They wanted around 1,500 bighas of unused land acquired for urbanization to be returned to them. The HC admitted the petition and fixed August 17 for hearing the case along with other petitions challenging land acquisition. Opposition parties called the amendment anti-farmer. SP, BJP, Congress and RLD leaders accused the Mayawati government of disregarding parliamentary procedure by getting the amendment passed in the assembly without any debate. Government officials justified the move saying the amendment was applicable only to acquisitions by urban development authorities.