UP govt has freed 67,000 acres of land from land mafia: Adityanath

The Uttar Pradesh revenue department has so far freed 67,000 acres of land from the land mafia during the tenure of the current government and priority has been given to make sports grounds on it, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told the Legislative Council on Tuesday.

Replying to a question raised by MLC Suresh Kumar Tripathi, Adityanath said, "After this government was formed in 2017, an anti-land mafia task force was constituted to free public and private land grabbed under the patronage of those who were in power and using other tricks. The task force has so far freed 67,000 acres of land of the revenue department."

"Priority has been given to sports grounds, whether under the sports department, the youth welfare department or under the MGNREGA. Our effort is that sports grounds should be made at the panchayat level. If the land is found near primary or upper primary schools, then children will get space for themselves and villagers will also get space for holding public programmes," he said.

The chief minister said that the intention of his government is that the sports grounds should be located near the primary and upper primary schools.

"The district magistrates have been instructed to exchange land if needed. So far, sports grounds have been made in thousands of village panchayats," he said.

Adityanath also said that sports kits have been provided to the "yuvak mangal dal" and "mahila mangal dal".