Chandigarh, January 11 – In a big relief for Jumla Malkan, Mustraka Malkan, Shamlat Deh, Jumla Mustraka Malkan and Abadkar, Pattedar, Dholidar, Butmidar Mukrirdar and Kashtkar, the State Government has decided to introduce a new law to give ownership rights to them.
While chairing an important meeting with the delegation of Bhartiya Kisan Union held here today, the Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal said that a special Committee being monitored by him has been constituted to study the old laws and prepare new ones. Deputy Chief Minister, Development and Panchayat Minister, Urban Local Bodies Minister and Advocate General have also been included in this Committee, he informed. Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Sh. J.P Dalal also remained present in the meeting.
“Two meetings of this Committee have been held and directions have been given to the officers concerned to prepare the draft of the said law. This work is in the final stage, soon a bill related to it will be brought in the Vidhan Sabha. The advocates of the ‘Kisan Union’ can also give any suggestions for the draft of this law to the Committee,” informed Sh. Manohar Lal.
The delegation also expressed their gratitude to the Chief Minister for finding a permanent solution to this issue by introducing a law. The delegation put forth several demands in the meeting, which were agreed upon and the delegation thanked Chief Minister.
Sh. Manohar Lal said that no injustice will be done to the farmers who have either been residing there or doing farming on such lands for years. They will not be asked to vacate the land. However, the government has strictly ensured no further encroachment is done on such land.
A new scheme is being formulated for groundwater recharging
The Chief Minister further informed that a new scheme is being formulated for groundwater recharging. He said that the availability of water is continuously decreasing in the state, in view of this it is also the responsibility of the government to ensure the optimum use of water. Borewells are also being set up by the government for groundwater recharging, he added.
Accepting the suggestion given by the Union, the Chief Minister said that soon a new scheme will be brought, under which farmers will be able to set up borewells in their fields for groundwater recharging and the state government will make provision for giving subsidy on this. For this, the blueprint will be prepared soon, he added.
Farmers, especially in those regions with depleting groundwater levels should adopt micro irrigation system, urges CM
The Chief Minister said that in areas where the groundwater level has gone down considerably, farmers should adopt micro irrigation. The state government is providing subsidy up to 85 percent to the farmers for micro irrigation. Not only this, the Water Resources Authority is assessing the water level of every village. Piezometers are being installed for this. Now the groundwater level will be ascertained not block-wise but village-wise.
“The State Government launched Mera Pani-Meri Virasat Yojana for water conservation, under which we had called upon the farmers to cultivate less water-consuming crops instead of paddy. Farmers, while cooperating with the government have adopted crop diversification in about 1 lakh acres of paddy grown area, informed Sh. Manohar Lal.
The Committee is studying all aspects of fixation of sugarcane prices
The Chief Minister said that the State Government always formulates schemes in the interest of the farmers and in every situation the government stands shoulder to shoulder with the farmers.
“For the fixation of sugarcane prices, a Committee under the Chairmanship of Agriculture Minister has been constituted. The Committee studying the crop cost, the rate of sugar, its recovery and other related topics and will soon submit a report to the government,” informed Sh. Manohar Lal.
He said that the State Government is also increasing the capacity of sugar mills. Now work is being done in the direction of making ethanol in the mills, so that the losses of the mills can be reduced to some extent, informed the Chief Minister.
Arrangements are being made for conducting fresh consolidation of the land on both sides of the highways and expressways
During the meeting, the delegation also raised the problem of lack of access to the fields due to acquisition of land for the construction of highways or expressways. Responding to this, the Chief Minister said that the State Government is making arrangements for fresh consolidation of the land on both sides of the highways and expressways so that if a farmer's land has come on both sides of the road, he will get land on one side of the road. After consolidation, arrangements will also be made to provide 4-5 Karam path to the farmers, informed the Sh. Manohar Lal.
Government is buying land through e-Bhoomi portal
On the demand of amendment in the land acquisition law raised by the delegation, Sh. Manohar Lal said that not even an inch of land has been acquired for government projects during the tenure of the present state government.
“Our government has started the e-Bhoomi portal, through which the government is taking the land for projects on the consent of the land owners as per their demanded rates. Through this system, the government has purchased about 800-900 acres of land with the mutual consent of the land owners,” asserted Sh. Manohar Lal.
In the meeting, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Department, Sh. T.V.S.N Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department Dr. Sumita Misra, Additional Chief Secretary, Public Works (Building and Roads) Department, Sh. Ankur Gupta, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Dr. Amit Agrawal, Chairman, Power DISCOMS, Sh. P K Das, Commissioner and Secretary, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Department, Smt. Amneet P. Kumar, representatives of Bharatiya Kisan Union Suresh Koth, Amarjeet Singh Mohadi, Mandeep Singh Nathwan and other officials were present. Besides these, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. V. Umashankar joined the meeting through video conferencing.