Is the Government of Uttarakhand really making efforts to bring a law that will restrict outsiders to buy large tracts of land in Uttarakhand ?
There have been lot of deliberations about a concrete land act to be implemented in Uttarakhand and the present BJP government having assured the state citizens of doing the needful in this regard at the earliest.
However, several months have elapsed rather a year but nothing concretely has been heard in this regard despite the fact that the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has been assuring time and again regarding bringing out a concrete land act of Uttarakhand.
A committee formed by the CM under the chairmanship of the former chief secretary of the state Subhash Sharma to formulate a credible land act of Uttarakhand is believed to have completed the report and submitted the same to the chief minister.
There are reports that the chief minister is likely to get it passed from the cabinet committee in the near future.
According to a latest report of 6 th April, the present government is coming out with a credible land law or ordinance under which there will be restriction on purchase of land for the outsiders to some extent and will have to fill up a prescribed form mentioning the reasons for the purchase of land and their bona fide etc fixing the limit of the size of the land etc.
During the tenure of former chief minister of Uttarakhand major Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri the limit for purchase of land for the outsiders was 500 square meters n there after 250 square meters.
However, after the then chief minister Vijay Bahuguna arrived, the law lifting the ceiling on 12.5 acres of land was designed / drafted and finally approved by the BJP chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat under the guise of granting green signal to thirty industrial projects related to tourism etc.
This enabled the industrialists, corporate houses and the affluents buy as much of land they can and Uttarakhand became a safe haven for the money launderers who allegedly invested their black money on big land acquisitions.
There are reports that majority of the prime hilly lands and lands of plains including magnificent meadows have been sold at throw away prices.
Hundreds of rich and affluents businessman, real estate agents, builders, hotel owners, school mafia, hospital mafia under the guise of medical tourism have bought lot of land even in hilly areas manipulating the innocent villagers apart from land in plains thus adversely impacting our demography etc.
A special campaign was launched by several social organisations in social media and on the ground finally compelling the present government to make a law on this – prohibiting outsiders buying land in Uttarakhand.
According to the latest news – now the state government is making the land laws more stringent and strong in order to apply brake on land purchases enabling the outside buyers to undergo certain checks and verification.
It is learnt that the chief minister had given his consent to make verification of the credentials etc necessary and mandatory for the outsiders interested to buy land in Uttarakhand.
According to the secretary to the Chief Minister IAS Meenakshi Sundaram the revenue department has been directed to bring an ordinance in this regard which will make it mandatory for outside buyers of land in Uttarakhand to fill a verification form and undergo several authentication processes etc.
Only then will they be allowed to buy the land and that too in limited quantity.
But it remains to be seen as to what basic parameters would be applicable for the outside buyers and whether there will be transparency in the implementation of these laws or not.
People are also questioning if the earlier land act that has lifted the ceiling on 12.5 acres of land giving free hand to the rich n affluent businessman and industrial houses to buy as much of land they can is revoked or not ? This ceiling on 12.5 acres purchase was lifted during the tenure of the BJP CM Trivendra Singh Rawat and opposed tooth and nail but of no avail.
