The Chhattisgarh Government has directed all district collectors to initiate action under the land Ceiling Act against industrial units which are utilising land without applying for their diversion, Revenue Minister Prem Prakash Pandey informed the State Assembly on Friday.
Replying to Congress member Bhupesh Baghel during the Question Hour, the Minister said that the industrial units had purchased more than 67,000 hectares of land from farmers and private land owners.
Earlier, Baghel complained that diversion of only 3,864 hectares of land purchased by the industrial units had taken place in Chhattisgarh while diversion of more than 4,000 hectares was yet to be done. In this way, the industrial units have caused revenue loss to the Government, he said.
To this, Pandey replied that private land owners were free to use their land as they wished.
To this, Baghel said that a bill was passed in the State Assembly that farm land can only be purchased by the farmers and whether this law had come into force or not. To this, Pandey replied that any organisation can buy agricultural land but such organisations come under the purview of land Ceiling Act.