Oustees fear cancellation of land allotted in Rajasthan

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, October 30

Pong Dam oustees who were allotted land in Rajasthan during the pandemic period are fearing the cancellation of the same due to their inability to go there amid of the suspension of rail and public road transport.

At least 500 oustees from Kangra district are supposed to take the physical possession of land within 90 days, failing which the Rajasthan Government will annul their allotment by invoking Sub-Rule 5(7) of the Rajasthan Colonisation Rules, 1972.

Amrik Singh (85), a resident of upper Barol (Dharamsala), who received the land allotment letter in August, said he was forced to visit Bikaner in Rajasthan by spending Rs 35,000 on a taxi for getting his father’s name corrected in the allotment letter.

He would be able to take the possession of his land in Jaisalmer district only after the name correction. Similarly, Madan Lal, a resident of Sakri in Kangra district, who got his land allotment letter in August, said he had recently spent Rs 36,000 on a taxi to visit Rajasthan to take possession of his land in Jaisalmer district.

Amid the suspension of public transport, several Pong Dam Oustees have failed to collect their kharif crops and cultivate rabi crops in their fields in Rajasthan.

Hukum Chand Guleri, general secretary of the Pong Dam Oustees’ Samiti, said nearly 4,000 families were stuck either in Rajasthan or Himachal after the suspension of Dharamsala-Anoopgarh and Jassur- Gharsana buses by Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) on March 22. The samiti has urged Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur to take up the issue with the Rajasthan Government and withdraw the 90-day condition of taking land possession.

He appealed to the Chief Minister to resume the HRTC bus service so that the oustees could travel to Rajasthan.

The Pandemic blues

Amid the suspension of public transport, several Pong Dam Oustees have failed to collect their kharif crops and cultivate rabi crops in their fields in Rajasthan.