STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Projected as indigenous-friendly, circles concerned have doubt if Mission Basundhara 2.0 is really friendly to the indigenous people of the state. As the statistic goes, only around 40,000 of the over nine lakh disposed applications are eligible for land settlement until this afternoon, i.e., around five percent.
The government launched Mission Basundhara 2.0 on November 14, 2022, with the purpose of providing land rights to the indigenous people possessing lands for years. A question that makes the circled concerned inquisitive is: Are the criteria set for land settlement under the mission too strict, leading to the rejection of most of the applications during the scrutiny by the field-level officers of the Revenue and Disaster Management Department?
The department received as many as 13,39,599 applications seeking land settlement. Until this afternoon, the department has disposed of 9,71,530 applications, and the disposal of 3,68,069 applications is under process. Only 40,031 of the 9,71,530 applications are eligible for land settlement, and the department rejected the remaining 9,31,499 applications. Till this evening, not a single application is eligible for land settlement in Kamrup (M), Nagaon, Dhubri, South Salmara-Mankachar, and Barpeta districts. The highest number of 11,306 eligible applications for land settlement are in the Dibrugarh district. Following Dibrugarh are Morigaon with 4,128, Lakhimpur with 2,838, Sonitpur with 2,551, Goalpara with 2,382, and Charaideo with 2,112 eligible applications.
Meanwhile, a section of indigenous people of the Kamrup (M) district has written a letter to the Chief Minister urging his government to review the decision to reject their applications for land settlement despite being indigenous people occupying Khas land for years together.
According to sources in the Revenue Department, it will dispose of all applications under Mission Basundhara 2.0 by November 14, 2023. The department is contemplating reviewing the complaints received after the disposal of all the applications, i.e., November 14, 2023. The department has also kept the option of Mission Basundhara 3.0, which may review the complaints.
According to Revenue Department sources, the illegible applicants to Mission Basundhara 2.0 will have to pay land premiums in a maximum of four installments as per the zonal land valuation. The department will inform the eligible applicants of the details of the premiums and the last date for making payments. An applicant paying at least one installment will get a provisional patta in January and a permanent patta in the event of making a full payment.
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