About 15 years have passed since Uttarakhand was carved out as a new State but since then successive State Governments have failed to facilitate land consolidation in the mountainous regions.
The situation has worsened as people in rural mountainous areas are giving up farming and migrating away from the mountains to towns in the plains. As a result, many hundreds of villages are abandoned. The migration from the mountains has weakened agriculture, affected the delimitation of the mountain districts and also caused a drastic increase in pressure on resources in the towns of the plains to where the villagers from the mountains have migrated.
It is pertinent to mention here that the State government had in the past formed a land consolidation committee but its works were limited mostly to documents. Although the present Congress- led state government has taken steps towards implementation of land consolidation and a draft has been prepared in this regard but suggestions have not been taken from the mountain land consolidation advisory committee for the draft.
Vice chairman of this advisory committee and prominent leader of the land consolidation movement in Uttarakhand, Ganesh Singh ‘Garib’ said that the government intends to implement land consolidation in the state.
However, he said that discussions should have been held with subject experts and stakeholders before drafting the land consolidation policy.
The responsibility and authority of the advisory committee should be cleared and land consolidation should be implemented in a time bound and phased manner.
Garib said that the constituted advisory committee has many flaws due to which even after 10 months of its formation, the purpose of land consolidation has not reached farmers of the mountainous districts of the state with no awareness programme being undertaken by the State. In such conditions, it has become difficult to implement the land consolidation which is a complex exercise and also a sensitive issue, he added.
The veteran leader of the land consolidation movement also said that the present State Government should analyse the factors due to which government efforts in the past did not succeed in facilitating land consolidation.
The drawbacks and lessons learnt from the past experience of the State Government should also be taken into account in order to frame an effective plan for facilitating land consolidation in the State, said Garib.
He added that he is not fully satisfied with the land consolidation draft, while adding that chief minister Harish Rawat had earlier stated that suggestions from the public would also be taken in this regard. He said, “Section 371 should be implemented in Uttarakhand as in neighbouring Himanchal Pradesh before the implementation of land consolidation. There should be clear provision in the draft or act prohibiting sale of agricultural land in the mountainous regions for purposes other than agriculture. In case of violation of this provision, the possession of the land should be taken back. This provision will restrict land grabbing by the land and construction mafia. However, there is no policy for land consolidation so far,” added Garib.