Mission Basundhara 2.0 to herald good luck to indigenous applicants in New Year

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Mission Basundhara 2.0 is on its way to herald good luck for not less than three lakh indigenous people of the state in the New Year. The State Government is set to issue land pattas to eligible applicants on a single day in January 2024.

Speaking to The Sentinel, Revenue and Disaster Management (R&DM) Minister Jogen Mohan said, “We have received 13,39,598 applications for land settlement under Mission Basundhara 2.0. As of this date, we have 7,968,223 applications under processing. We have rejected the remaining 5,42,775 applications on various grounds. It has come to light during the scrutiny and field verification that a large section of applicants have land under the possession of others; some of the lands applied for settlement have no occupation on the ground; some provided misleading documents at the time of application; etc. The number of rejected applications may increase as the department scrutinises the applications critically as the matter is related to land settlement. We will dispose of all the applications by November 14, 2023. We can infer from the preliminary estimation that not less than three lakh indigenous people will get rights over the lands in their possession. The Chief Minister will provide land pattas to all eligible applicants in January at a ceremony.”

The minister clarified that the eligible applicants will have to pay premiums for the lands as per government rules. “In rural areas, the premium will be Rs 100 per bigha. In urban areas, the applicants with buildings will have to pay 100 percent of the zonal land valuation; those with Assam-type houses will have to pay 30 percent of the zonal land valuation; and those with thatched houses will have to pay 10 percent of the zonal value. Since the zonal land valuation of urban areas is high, we have made provisions for the payment of the premiums in installments. An applicant paying at least one premium will get the provisional land settlement certificate and get the land patta after the payment of all the installments,” the minister said.

The minister said, “The indigenous tea growers will also get the special benefits under Mission Basundhara 2.0. The government will provide land rights to eligible tea growers up to 30 bighas of land at a rate of Rs 1,000 per bigha. We have already instructed the district commissioners to speed up the process. Of course, floods have slowed the process to an extent in a few districts.”

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