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UP cabinet allots prime land to RSS affiliate

Close on the heels of the controversy over allotment of 45 acres of prime land in Mathura to Sadhavi Rithambara's Param Shakti Peeth, the Uttar Pradesh cabinet decided to allot 5,000 sq metre of plot worth Rs 10 million in Lucknow for just a token fee of Re 1 to an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh.

The decision sparked resentment among Bharatiya Janata Party allies with Loktantrik Congress Party and the Jantantrik Bahujan Samaj Party terming it as improper, and drew instant flak from opposition parties.

The cabinet on Wednesday decided to allot the land adjacent to prestigious Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute for Medical Sciences on a 30 year lease to Bhaurao Deoras Nyas named after the RSS founder in UP, for constructing a rest house for attendants of patients, an official spokesman said.

LCP president Naresh Agarwal, also power minister, said he had opposed the move in the cabinet but Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta used his discretionary powers to allot the land.

Minister of State for Excise and JBSP leader Yashwant Singh termed the decision as wrong saying "several such decisions of previous governments have been opposed by the present government".

The Samajwadi Party and Congress said they would vehemently oppose the trend of handing over of precious government lands to "communal organisations under the garb of social welfare organisations".

BJP state unit president and Irrigation Minister Om Prakash Singh defended the decision saying the land had been allotted after obtaining a no objection certificate from the department concerned.

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