Cut in land deed premiums for Guwahati hill dwellers

Guwahati: Assam govt has lowered land premium for the inhabitants of the hills of Guwahati to facilitate them with land rights under the forthcoming Mission Basundhara 3.0 scheduled to start from Oct 20.

CM Himanta Biswa Sarma made the announcement through a video message on his social media handle on Friday night. “The families residing in the hills of Guwahati could not avail land deeds in the previous editions owing to its high premium, even after the govt started giving them the land rights. However, under Mission Basundhara 3.0, the land premium has been significantly decreased to make it affordable for the hill dwellers. The facilities under the third edition of the scheme will be available from Oct 20,” Sarma said.

The development is expected to benefit numerous indigenous families residing on 19 hills of Guwahati, who have been struggling to secure land rights for decades.

In the first two editions of Mission Basundhara, over 10 lakh families across the state got rights over their lands.

Reacting to the CM’s announcement, Prabin Jyoti Kalita, president of the Bhumi Adhikar Sangram Samiti, a civil society group which has been seeking land rights for hill dwellers in Guwahati for last 23 years, said, “If the govt decreases the premium significantly, we will definitely welcome the move as it will greatly benefit over 85,000 families residing in the hills. However, no guidelines have been issued so far by the govt.”

The CM added that social institutions in villages across the state, including namghars, temples, schools, clubs, crematoriums, who do not have land deeds, will be in focus when providing the deeds under the third edition of Mission Basundhara. The initiative has been taken as the institutions are unable to get govt aid for not having the land deeds.

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