After the Bhumi Bachao Committee of Bengal, it is the turn of Bhumi Bachao Kishan Sangharsh Samiti in Bihar. The only difference is that unlike Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress is siding with the Bhumi Bachao Committee, in Bihar it is the CPI.
In what seemed to have put railway minister Lalu Prasad's wagon-repairing factory project at Sonepur in Saran district in trouble is that the Patna High Court yesterday asked the railways to file an affidavit within two weeks explaining its moves to acquire fresh land in Sonepur for the factory, instead of opting for 2,200 acres of land, which had already been acquired for the Air Breaks Goods Coach project by it at Garhara yard in Begusarai 10 years back.
Besides the wagon-repairing factory, Lalu Prasad has also announced another electric locomotive factory for his Lok Sabha constituency in Chapra, which again falls under the Saran district.
The intervention by the division bench of Justice Narayan Roy and Justice J.N. Singh followed a recent Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Bhumi Bachao Kisan Sangharh Samiti, opposing the acquisition of fertile land for railways project. Further hearing on this issue will take place after two weeks.
Interestingly, former CPI MP from Balia in Begusarai Shatrughan Prasad Singh and others filed an intervening petition in support of the PIL.
From: Tribune News Service, May-09,07
