Remove disparity in land measurement: Farmers

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 20

Farmers across the Shimla region demanded that the government should remove all anomalies by rationalising the basic unit of land measurement, which had created “disparity in the size of land holdings among farmers” in Shimla, Mandi and Kangra regions as per the state land settlement manual.

According to the state land settlement manual, the farmers in Shimla district are getting “less land” as compared to their counterparts in Mandi and Kangra region.

The manual says that one ‘karam’, a basic unit of land measurement in Himachal Pradesh, has different measurements, which is less in Shimla, more in Mandi, and the highest in Kangra region. In Shimla, one ‘karam’ (54 inches) is equal to 1.3716 sq m. It is (56 inches) in Mandi-Kullu and equals 1.4224 sq m.

In the Kangra-Una region, one ‘karam’ is (57.5 inches) which is equal to 1.4605 sq metre. It is the highest in the state. “We have been following this manual but no one has detected these anomalies in the Revenue Department over the years”, said a field staff of the Revenue Department.

Even if the state government is switching over to an uniform metric system, various bodies of farmers in Shimla district demanded that the government remove all anomalies.

Members of the Himachal Kisan Sabha and the Progressive Apple Growers Association demanded that the government should bring about land reforms to remove these disparities so that the farmers of the Shimla- Mahasu region do not feel discriminated against as far as the size and area of land holdings are concerned.

Govt’s take

Commenting on the issue, Manisha Nanda, Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue), said the problem arose due to the basic unit of measurement, ''''''''''''''''karam '''''''''''''''' was of varying length in all three districts. The government was introducing a metric system to bring about uniformity in land measurement, she said, but refused to comment on removing the anomalies in the land allotment and measurement system.