UP government frees 70,000 acres of land from mafia, orders construction of houses for Dalits & poor on that land
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday announced that the state government will build houses for Dalits and the poor on land confiscated from the mafia.
In February this year, Adityanath had told the Legislative Council that the Uttar Pradesh revenue department has so far freed 67,000 acres of land from the land mafia during the tenure of the current government and priority has been given to make sports grounds on it.
In a response to a question raised by MLC Suresh Kumar Tripathi, CM Adityanath had said, “After this government was formed in 2017, an anti-land mafia task force was constituted to free public and private land grabbed under the patronage of those who were in power and using other tricks. The task force has so far freed 67,000 acres of land of the revenue department.”
Now on Thursday while speaking at the state assembly, the Uttar Chief Minister said, “Government will build houses for the poor and Dalits on the confiscated land of the mafia. We don’t carry Mafias with us, we take action against them.”
“Priority has been given to sports grounds, whether under the sports department, the youth welfare department or under the MGNREGA. Our effort is that the sports grounds should be made at the panchayat level. If the land is found near primary or upper primary schools, then children will get space for themselves and villagers will also get space for holding public programs,” he had added.
The chief minister also announced a hike in the dearness allowance of government employees to 28% from the previous 17%, adding that the honorarium to Anganwadi Workers/Anganwadi Helpers will also be enhanced.
According to the reports. the Uttar Pradesh Police has attached the properties from Ghazipur in Delhi NCR, of the Gangster turned MLA’s wife and brother under section 14(1) of the Gangster Act, which allows attachment of illegal properties, in order to effectively curb gangsters, mafias and criminals and their associates.
A PTI report in June, citing official data, had stated that the Uttar Pradesh Police had lodged 5,558 FIRs under the Gangsters Act from January 2020 till April 2021. These attached ill-gotten properties are reportedly worth around Rs 1,128 crores belonging to mafias and their gang members.
