Sunday, 01 August 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
We will scrap the contentious provisions in our first cabinet meeting- PCC president
Jumping on the bandwagon of the protest on the land laws, the Uttarakhand Congress has vowed that it would scrap the contentious amendments from the Uttarakhand (Uttar Pradesh) Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act as soon as it comes to power in the state. Terming the changes made by the BJP government in land laws as a conspiracy to help those involved in the trade of land, the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Ganesh Godiyal said that the government has removed all restrictions on sale of land in the state. Addressing media persons here on Saturday, the PCC president said that the inherent and transitional rights of the natives of the state should be protected. “The state government has put forward an argument that the amendments have been done to help industries but it should have acquired the land and then given it to industries on its terms as the Congress government did in the case of setting up of SIIDCUL,’’ he said.
The PCC president said that the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has said that a committee of officers headed by the chief secretary would review the land laws which prove that the government has come on a back foot on the issue. He said that the government should set up an all party committee on the subject and should come out with a white paper on the issue and inform how much land was sold in the state after the new law and the industrial investment it attracted.
The Congress MLA from Kedarnath, Manoj Rawat said that the BJP government on the basis of the brute majority it enjoys in the state assembly passed an amendment in the Uttarakhand (UP) ZA and Land Management Act and effected a change in the section 143 and 154 of the act. He said that these amendments removed the ceiling of 12.5 acres and compulsion of land use change of agricultural land for purchase of land for industrial use. Rawat said that all the businesses associated with hospitality, tourism, health and education have been included in the definition of industry. “Now any cooperative society or religious body can purchase as much land as it wants in the state. After amending the law for purchase of land in mountainous districts the government removed the ceiling for purchase of land in plain districts of Dehradun, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar by a cabinet decision taken on June 4, 2019,’’ he said.
Rawat said that the Congress government would initiate the new land settlement and consolidation process in the state and would work for bringing a transparent and pro people land law in Uttarakhand.
The Congress spokesperson Zsarika Laitflang said that she belongs to Meghalaya and the land of the natives in her state is protected under schedule six of the constitution.
The media in charge of state Congress Rajiv Mehrshi, party spokesperson of Garhwal, Garima Dasauni and others were present on the occasion.
