The Himachal Pradesh Cabinet which met here on Wednesday under the chairmanship of chief minister Virbhadra Singh approved the draft of Himachal Pradesh lease Rules, 2013, which will be notified in the official gazette for inviting objections and suggestions of general public.
As per the draft policy, government land will be provided on lease basis only, when no alternate private land was available. Provision has been made to lease out the government land for self-employment to ex-servicemen, war widows and BPl families. It has also been proposed to lease out government land for construction of residential house by landless Himachalis or for the rehabilitation for sufferers of natural calamities.
It has been proposed that the encroached government land will not be leased to the encroacher but it could be leased out to any eligible person or institutions after the encroacher is pushed out. The maximum area required for a specific purpose will be certified by the department concerned under which the activity for which lease of government land is sought, falls. Such maximum area will be subject to provisions of H.P Ceiling on land Holdings Act, 1972.
Before granting government land on lease basis, no objections of estate right holders will be obtained and the state government will have the power to grant lease for a period as it deems fit. The Cabinet also decided to cancel the construction of Palchan-Rohtang ropeway project in Kullu district. It decided to assign the subject of coffee cultivation and development to Agriculture department.
It was decided to include lPG connection number, electricity connection number and employment exchange registration number in Bio-metric Enrollment Form of National Population Register (NPR).