HC questions Railways on fresh land for wagon unit

The Patna High Court has directed the Railways to file a counter affidavit within two weeks explaining the reason for proposed acquisition of land for setting up a wagon repair unit at Sonepur in Saran district when land for it had already been acquired at Barauni in Begusarai district.

Sonepur falls in Chapra parliamentary constituency of Railways Minister Lalu Prasad.

The directive was issued by a division bench comprising Justices Narayan Roy and J N Singh while hearing a PIL filed by Bhoomi Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, an organisation of Sonepur farmers protesting the proposed acquisition of land.

The Samiti had filed the PIL last year protesting the proposed acquisition on the ground that the land was highly fertile. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has already announced that there would be no "forcible" acquisition of land for setting up industries. An intervener petition was filed by former CPI Lok Sabha member from Ballia, Shatrughna Prasad Singh, today.

In the petition,he also protested the move of the Railways, saying it already had 2,200 acres of land near Barauni junction station and a portion of it was set aside for the proposed unit way back in 1997 when Ram Vilas Paswan was Railways Minister.