New Delhi [India], October 21 : Highlighting the state's zero tolerance policy towards encroachment, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the state has decided to put a bar on construction of new houses in areas like Dibrugarh and Tinsukia.
Taking to social media X, Sarma wrote in a post on Saturday, "In response to our zero tolerance policy towards encroachment, particularly in tea gardens areas, we have put a bar on constructing new houses in towns like Dibrugarh and Tinsukia by unauthorised person and encroachers. But this order has nothing do with tea garden workers. Let me clarify this order is only applicable to encroachers and not members of our tea gardern community who are constructing their own houses and also living in lines."
On October 20, Sarma had launched the Mission Basundhara 3.0, which aims to provide land rights to indigenous people at an event held in Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra in Guwahati.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said, "Immediately after we assumed office, we set out on a mission to provide land rights to indigenous communities in Assam- an exercise undertaken after 75 years of independence. On October 2, 2021, Mission Basundhara was born with this vision".
He further said that immediately after setting out to implement this mission, the state government was astounded by the unprecedented number of applications, which were received from different beneficiaries. This receipt of applications thereby validated the state government's efforts in land-related initiatives in Assam.
The Chief Minister said that the state government disposed of eight lakh applications in nine months under Mission Basundhara 1.0.
CM Sarma further said that realizing the immense potential, especially in conferring land rights to the indigenous people of the state, his government launched the second edition of Mission Basundhara in November 2022 and gave land rights to over two lakh indigenous people within one year.
"Through this comprehensive Mission, we aim to allot land ownership to priority groups at the earliest and bring transparency to various land-related services. MB 3.0 will be another firm step taken by our government to safeguard the land rights and the identity of the people of Assam," he said.
The Chief Minister said that to be entitled to land rights under Mission Basundhara three-generation ancestry is required. However, people belonging to SC, ST, Tea Tribes and Gorkhas will not be required to prove three-generation ancestry as they are the sons of the soil.
He informed that the premium rate was reduced to 3 per cent of the zonal valuation for city dwellers.