Guwahati (Assam): The BJP government in Assam led by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is bringing a new land law in March to ensure and protect the land rights of indigenous people of the state. The Assam government will enact this law in March next year. Under the new law the revenue department will allow land transactions in some selected revenue circles only to those who have been residents of Assam since 1951.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has revealed that the government is taking up necessary steps for bringing this law. Dr Sarma on Sunday announced at a function of the Revenue Department that the Assam government has been working on a law that allows land transactions in selected revenue circles only among people living in the state since or before 1951.
The Chief Minister said "New laws have been enacted and the existing laws have been amended in Assam to ensure and protect the land rights of indigenous people. Work is being done to bring in new laws. Along with this, land rights have been given to the landless, the deserving ones."
"One of the important things we want to do is to identify certain revenue circles, where only people living there since or before 1951 can sell and buy land. Only those families whose names will be in the voter list of Assam in 1951 or in the NRC and their successors can buy and sell among themselves. It will be a strong and bold law. We will bring this law in March next year,” Sarma added. The Chief Minister also said that the Assam government will soon bring a new law to protect the main agricultural lands.
Which Revenue Circles Will The Proposed Law Will Be Applicable In?
Chief Minister Sarma said, "The Government of Assam is moving towards identifying some revenue circles like Jania, Kalgachia, Dhing, Ruphihat, Jamunamukh etc". He clearly stated that in such revenue circles, only those people who have their names listed in the 1951 electoral roll and their successors can buy and sell land. The state government will take necessary steps to enact a law in this regard soon, he added.
Similarly, in the undivided Goalpara district, the state government has also decided to enact a law that can be purchased and sold only by such people, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. He said that the Assam government will soon bring several such laws.
The Assam Chief also stated that the state government has decided to enact a law allowing SC, ST and OBC owned lands to be bought and sold only among people from the same communities in the undivided Goalpara district.
Reiterating the Assam government's recent land law amendment, the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2024 the Chief Minister stated, "In the current legislative assembly session, we have added a new chapter-12 to the existing law. With this law, within the 5-kilometer radius of the 'iconic structure,' only those who have been residing there before 1951 or earlier are allowed to buy and sell land. This is a culturally and religiously neutral step."
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