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UP govt to honour those detained during the Emergency
It was also decided to reallocate 900 acres of land to irrigation dept that was given to realtors by BSP
Virendra Nath Bhatt
Lucknow
The state Cabinet on Tuesday 28 August decided to allot about 900 acres of land situated near Delhi back to the state irrigation department, which was transferred to the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) for development of real estate during Mayawati's tenure. Of the land that was reallocated, 441 acres are situated on the left bank of river Yamuna on the Shahdara-New Delhi road and 137 acres on the right bank of Yamuna near the Okhla barrage.
The Cabinet also endorsed a proposal to allocate 37,000 square metres (10 acres approx.) of land in Allahabad free of cost for the construction of residential buildings for the judges of Allahabad High Court.
In another decision, the Cabinet decided to pay a monthly honorarium of Rs 3,000 to all those detained during the Emergency under MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act) in 1975 and who remained in jail till the Emergency was lifted in January 1977.
As per the proposal endorsed by the UP Cabinet, the 'warriors of democracy' will also be entitled to free medical treatment in state-run hospitals and free travel in government buses with effect from April 2012, an official said. The number of the beneficiaries and the additional expenditure on the state exchequer is yet to be worked out, the official added.
The previous Samajwadi Party government (Aug 2003 – May 2007) headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav, father of the present chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, had also initiated a similar scheme. The state Congress, though extending outside support to the then government, had decried the move. The scheme was scrapped by Mayawati after she took over as the chief minister of UP in 2007.
Virendra Nath Bhatt is a Special Correspondent with Tehelka.
virendranathbhatt@gmail.com
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