No govt should think of relaxing Section 118 of Tenancy Act: Parmar
Sulah MLA and former Speaker of state Assembly Vipin Singh Parmar today attacked the Congress government for bringing an amendment to “dilute” Section 118 of HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act in order to “sell” the scarce agricultural land of the state to outsiders in the name of setting up industrial and other projects.
Talking to reporters here today, Parmar said interfering with Section 118 of HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act and allowing outsiders to buy land in Himachal was a sensitive issue and no government should even think of relaxing or amending this section.
He said Dr Y S Parmar was a very learned leader of the state who had brought this legislation in the state to protect poor people from becoming landless. “It is our duty not to interfere with the provisions of section 118 of HP land tenancy Act 1972, keeping in view the interest of people of Himachal.
He said that while a non-agriculturist bonafide Himachali was running from pillar to post for purchase just 150 sq yards of land for constructing a small house, the “Congress government was contemplating to sell huge chunks of land to outsiders without any NOC which would open flood gates for selling the scarce agriculture land of the state to non-Himachalis” he added.
He said the BJP government too remained under pressure for the dilution of Section 118 during its last term, but the then CM Jai Ram Thakur never yielded to the pressures of big industrial houses and outsiders who were keen to buy huge chunks of land in the state.
He said the four former chief ministers of the state – Shanta Kumar, Virbhadra Singh, Prem Kumar Dhumal and Jai Ram Thakur –made the provisions of Section 118 more stringent instead of relaxing it.
