Mulayam's lion project in Etawah junked

The Lion Safari project at Sefai in Etawah, former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's project, has been put in cold storage by the newly elected Bahujan Samaj Party government led by Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh.

The government has also decided to revive the Benti Bird sanctuary project at Kunda in Pratapgarh district on the land which was under Mafia don turned Legislator Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya.

In her previous stint as CM, Mayawati had slapped POTA on Raja Bhaiyya, his father Udai Pratap Singh and his cousin Akshay Pratap Singh, presently Samajwadi party MP from Pratapgarh.

The government today made it amply clear that "the project is of low priority for the government. The buzzword is Operation Green," said the Principal Secretary (Forests) V N Garg.

The Benti Bird Sanctuary at Kunda in Pratapgarh which the previous government had tried to de-notify, would be developed into a world class sanctuary, the official added.