Mayawati doesn't own single inch of land in her village: UP govt

Facing allegations of forcibly acquiring land to widen road in front of Mayawati's house at her village, the Uttar Pradesh government today said the chief minister did not own even a single inch of land there.

"Media reports stating that the chief minister owned bungalow in Badalpur village in Gauttam Buddha Nagar are baseless and far from truth. She does not own even a single inch of land or any type of property in the village," cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh told reporters in Lucknow.

"How baseless this report is can be gauged from the fact that in the last 15 years after taking over as the CM for the first time in 1995, she has not even visited the village in question," he added.

Vijendra Naagar, a resident of Badalpur, had alleged that his house was being "acquired forcibly by the Greater Noida Authority" to widen the road in front of Mayawati's palatial bungalow for security purposes.

"When the chief minister does not have a house in the village, then from where this question of safety arises," Singh questioned.

He said that a host of development schemes are being carried out in Greater Noida, Noida and industrial area in Gauttam Buddha Nagar to esnure that while urban areas prosper, the villages are not left behind and Badalpur is no exception.

He said the land in question is actually being acquired as a per a master plan to widen road connecting the national highway with Maripath halt.

The cabinet secretary said that a 30-metre road is proposed in the master plan, whereas the existing road is only nine metres wide.

"It is not the case of a single person, land of as many as 15 people had been acquired," he claimed.

Singh said that even 4,010sq metre land of Naagar was aquired as a part of the project, adding that the exercise was carried out as per the set procedure after paying due compensation.

"Only 200m of land are left to be acquired, of which a wrong picture is being painted. This is painful," he said.

Regarding transfer of chief executive officer of Greater Noida Mukul Singhal, Singh said it was a routine exercise and had nothing to do with this.

Claiming that a host of development works including a ploytechnic and marriage hall were constructed in Badalpur, the Cabinet Secretary said, "nothing illegal and nothing unconstitutional has been done."

However, he evaded a direct reply when asked who the owner of the bunglaow in question was, saying that there were many such structures in the village.