After CM Sarbananda Sonowal’s Nod, Draft Policy Forwarded To 11 Departments

GUWAHATI: Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has given his nod to the draft of ‘Land Policy-2019’. The Revenue and Disaster Management department has forwarded the draft policy to 11 other departments seeking their views on it within 15 days time.

After the lapse of this deadline, the Revenue and Disaster Management department will prepare a note appending its remarks on the views given by the 11 departments. Then the note will be sent to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal again for his final approval. Finally it will be placed in the Cabinet for the formalities to transform the draft policy into a new land policy for the State.

Among the departments whose views are being sought are Personnel, Agriculture, Forest, Finance, Industry, Guwahati Development, and Urban Development. However, if the departments do not respond within the stipulated deadline with their respective “additions to” or “deletions of” points from the draft then it would be taken for granted that the departments have given their consent to the draft land policy.

The draft ‘Land Policy-2019’ has been prepared by two officials of the Revenue and Disaster Management department in consultation with senior officials of that department and the Chief Minister’s Office. The draft report is based on the recommendations of the ‘Committee for Protection of Land Rights of the Indigenous People of Assam’ headed by former Chief Election Commissioner Hari Shankar Brahma, the ‘Land Policy of 1989’ and the draft ‘Land Policy of 2016’. The Brahma Committee was constituted on February 6, 2017, by an order issued by the Governor of Assam. It submitted the report to the State Government on January 18, 2018.

Considering the lengthy process, it is expected that the new land policy will be approved by the State Government in the fag end of 2019.

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