Shimla: Congress has decided to vehemently oppose any changes to land laws proposed by the government, going to the extend that its members on board a Vidhan Sabha select committee constituted for considering exemptions to certain categories in land ceiling limits have been asked to boycott it.
Party spokesman Kuldeep Pathania told reporters, “congress with other like minded parties will hold state wide protests should the government approve changes to land usage for industry.â€
He said that a cabinet sub-committee has been constituted for the purpose of permitting change to land usage granted under section 118 of Land Reforms and Tenancy Act, 1972.
It was land scarcity for agriculture which happens to be the mainstay of the people that the law was enacted in the first place, he added. Permitting entrepreneurs, private universities and industry to make changes in land usage would subvert the very law, he said.
Pathania said that congress opposed the move to make changes in the land ceiling act in the Vidhan Sabha, when a bill was moved to the effect.
Whereas the government choose to refer it to a select committee, he said, but the party has decided to boycott the committee.
Land ceiling was enacted in 1972 to restrict the amount of land an agriculturalist or others could hold in the state but allowing further exemptions than what are already permitted, would defeat the spirit of the law, he said.
The congress spokesman alleged that the government was trying to legalize the illegal sale of land that it had permitted over the last 3 and half years.
Should congress return to power all land dealing and exemptions permitted by the BJP government would be reviewed, said Pathania.
CPI(M) opposes conversion of leasehold land to freehold
With land issues taking center hold of the opposition parties, Communist Party of India (Marxists) have voiced their opposition to the proposed move of allowing conversion of leasehold to freehold land.
“It is a deep rooted conspiracy to benefit big industry,†says Tikender Panwar, CPI(M) spokesman .
Leasehold land locked up under industrial meltdown, lock outs and wit sick units would be granted permission under land usage change to convert into real estate, he said.
The CPI(M) spokesman alleged that BJP government had bypassed the state laws and were bent up encouraging real estate developers.
Leased land that is not be used for the purpose it was intended for should be returned to the farming community, said Panwar, in a communiqué.
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.
