Lucknow, Aug 18 (IANS): Virtually driven to the wall on the issue of compensation for lands acquired for her ambitious 165-km Noida-Agra Yamuna Expressway, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has now sought to pass the buck to the Congress-led central government.

"It was really regrettable that successive Congress governments, including the present UPA regime at the centre, had not cared to amend the archaic land acquisition law that was framed by the British, way back in 1894," Mayawati said in a statement here Wednesday.

She felt: "Ideally, suitable amendments should have been made in the Land Acquisition Act of 1894, so as to guard the interest of farmers while fulfilling the need of land acquisition for public purposes."

"Surprisingly, no concrete step was taken by the UPA government to amend the Land Acquisition Act, even though discussions were held several times in parliament to make suitable amendment," she said.

Flaying the centre for overlooking the interests of the farmers while laying down the law for creation of Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in 2005, she said: "Thousands of hectares of fertile land of the farmers had been taken over without paying proper compensation to them in several Congress or BJP ruled states."

Expressing grief over the violent incidents in Aligarh and Mathura districts, the chief minister said: "It was my government's top priority to ensure that land of farmers was taken over for public purpose only after payment of mutually agreed upon and adequate compensation."