Shimla: No dilution in HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act has been made, Rajiv Bindal and Sarveen Chaudhary, ministers in Prem Kumar Dhumal’s cabinet say in an emailed statement and ask Kaul Singh Thakur, state congress president, to desist from making contrary and baseless statements.
Taking exception to the congressman remarks on Wednesday, the duo say that provision for grant of a Himachal bonafide certificate was there earlier also for a resident who had spend 15 years in the state.
Such a certificate does not entitle, a 15 year resident to buy agriculture land in violation of the section 118 of the HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act (1972), say Bindal and Chaudhary, because to be able to buy agriculture land one had to be not just a state resident but also an agriculturalist.
Denying that there were any Benami transactions taking place in the state, the ministers say that such transactions were at their peak during the previous congress regime.
The BJP leaders state that the government had enhanced Scheduled Caste sub-plan from 9 % to 25%, which reflected the concern the present government had for the deprived sections.
The reprimand from the Chairman of the National Commission of Scheduled Caste was because of the neglect the previous congress government had shown towards them, the ministers countered.
The present government has launched a special campaign to fill up the back log of vacant Scheduled Castes and hundreds of such posts stand filled during the last one year.
The decision to shift Kamla Nehru Hospital to Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla has been taken to provide timely specialized and emergency services for female patients under one roof, says Bindal who is health minister.
The duo hold that the congress president by making contrary statements was attempting to divert attention from the survival battle he was fighting within his own party.
Asking Kaul Singh to refrain from making statement that harm the states larger interest, the two say that the people in the state have reposed faith in the BJP government and its policies as recent as May, when the party won 3 of the 4 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
Tenancy and land reforms act has saved the agricultural land from the rich outsiders so far. It should be there forever.