UP Govt suspends IAS officer in Rai Bareli coach factory case

Lucknow, Oct 23(UNI) Uttar Pradesh government tonight suspended senior Indian Administration Services(IAS) officer Balvinder Kumar in connection with the Rae Bareli Rail Coach Factory land controversy.

The state government suspended Mr Kumar, the then Principal Secretary, Revenue Department, for allegedly misleading the government on the allotment of 189.25 hectares of land to the Railway Ministry, for setting up Rs 2200 crore-Rail Coach factory at Lalganj area in Rae Bareli district, the Parliamentary constituency of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Earlier, when the controversy broke out on October 11, the state government withdrew the land which was allotted to the Railways and Mr Kumar was shunted out of the Revenue Department and was made Member, Revenue Board(Judicial).

Later, on October 18, UP Chief Minister Mayawati made a U-turn and re-allotted the land to the Railways, after taking the Cabinet approval.

The reason given for Kumar's suspension was that he did not seek Cabinet approval before allotting the land to the Railways, due to which the state government had to cancel the allotment of land on October 11. This forced the Railways to postpone the 'Bhumi Pujan' for the coach factory, slated for October 14.

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