Budget Day 4: Oppn, ruling lock horns over land patta, revenue office, co-districts, and disaster

Guwahati, Feb. 21: The fourth day of the Assam Legislative Assembly saw an intense debate between the ruling and the opposition parties over key issues concerning land rights and disaster management.

While the ruling parties said that under the current regime, land rights of the people have been restored and addressing disaster crises has become prompt, the opposition said that the eviction has been widespread and funds of the Central government for disaster management has not reached Assam.

Land rights and pattas:

Boko MLA Nandita Das from the Congress pointed out that despite the existence of The Rehabilitation Policy for Erosion Affected Families of Assam, 2020, many affected individuals, particularly those in char areas, remain excluded.

“The Rehabilitation Policy for Erosion affected Family of Assam, 2020 categorises beneficiaries under relevant laws. However, we have observed that many deserving people, particularly agricultural communities in char areas, are left out simply because they lack land documents,” Das said.

She highlighted that this is because the agriculturalists do not have relevant land documents to avail the benefits of the rehabilitation policy.

“Surveys must be carried out in these areas so land documents can be issued to the erosion-affected families for them to receive benefits of the Rehabilitation Policy,” Das said.

Moriani MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi from the BJP defended the government's initiatives, citing the distribution of land pattas to 2,69,659 people through schemes like Basundhara.

“Through Basundhara 3.0 alone, we received a significant amount of applications. Through these schemes we have tried to protect the century old educational, religious, and other social institutions by introducing necessary relaxations,” Kurmi said.

Kurmi also said that the government has started out zonal evaluation of tea gardens.

“We have brought about drone technology to measure land. The government has taken steps to quickly address issues related to mutation and partition of land in a time-bound manner,” Kurmi added.

Co-districts and administration:

Das pointed out that the newly announced co-districts has only caused inconvenience to people.

“The creation of co-districts has distanced local administration from the people. Instead of bringing services closer, it has made governance more inaccessible,” Das said.

Kurmi responded, “With regard to co-districts, the objective is to centralise district-related work in one place and bring the administration closer to the people.”

Flood relief, disaster management, and Central funds:

Duliajan MLA Terash Gowala from the BJP said the government has been proactive in disaster mitigation and relief efforts.

“The SDRF and NDRF personnel have been prompt in addressing a recent issue of breaking of embankment. The district administration is quick to dispense funds and financial assistance to the people under the current government,” Gowala said.

He further added that financial assistance is given to people whose houses are damaged by disasters.

“Under the government, for a house that is partially damaged by disaster an amount of Rs 4000 is given to the victims. If a house in the plain areas is fully damaged, the amount given is Rs 1 lakh 20 thousand. If a house in the hills is fully damaged, the government provides for Rs 1,30,000. Damaged huts with sheds are given Rs 3,000,” Gowala said.

However, Sarukhetri MLA Jakir Husain Sikdar from the Congress raised concerns over the lack of Central funds for disaster management in Assam.

“As per media reports, the Centre has not released adequate flood relief funds to Assam. Despite repeated requests, less than 30% of the required assistance has been provided. Is the Centre neglecting Assam or is the state government failing to present Assam's crisis effectively to the Centre? We are ready to join the government to approach the Centre to seek more funds to address the flood menace in Assam,” Sikdar said.

Monkey menace:

A unique issues raised during the session was the increasing monkey menace in rural Assam. BJP MLA Mrinal Saikia urged the government to recognise this as a disaster.

"Monkeys are increasingly destroying crops in villages. They seem to consume similar food as human beings, making it difficult for them to survive in forests. We must take proactive steps to control their population and mitigate their impact on rural communities," Saikia said.