Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The Assam Assembly today passed the Assam Land and Revenue Regulations (Amendment) 2016 that restricts the selling, buying and leasing out of lands within a five km radius of iconic heritage institutions only to residents with three generations residing in the given five km radius. With the passage of the bill, such lands have become protected areas. Any people, barring STs, SCs and people belonging to indigenous ethnic communities, residing illegally on such lands will be evicted.
The objective of this bill is to protect and preserve the surrounding lands of iconic heritage institutions like Barduwa Satra, Barpeta Satra, Majuli, Kamakhya Mandir, etc., from encroachment and damage and to maintain the culture, heritage and demography of such areas.
Speaking on this bill in the Assembly, Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the government considers institutions that are at least 250 years old, such as Kamakhya Temple, Barpeta Satra, Borduwa Satra, Poa Macca of Hajo or churches, if there are any, as iconic heritage institutions. "We prevent any outsiders, irrespective of their caste and religion, from buying land within a 5 km radius of such institutions. If any Muslims reside within a five km radius of such institutions legally, they can live there. This policy is to prevent cultural aggression in iconic heritage institutions. Due to the absence of such an act, many iconic heritage institutions in Assam have gone under cultural aggression and demographic changes."
The chief minister said, "We need to preserve the traditions and heritage of iconic institutions. Let such institutions survive."
Earlier, Congress, AIUDF and TMC raised objections to the criterion of 'three generations' residing within a 5 km radius of iconic heritage institutions and said that this criterion is not justified. They tried to bring home that this criterion would violate several constitutional rights of citizens. "Since the Supreme Court of India accepts 1971 as the cut-off year for the determination of foreigners, anyone entering India prior to 1971 should have land rights," Abdur Rahman Ahmed of the Congress said.
In his reply, the chief minister said, "The criterion of 'three generations' is based on the Manmohan Singh government's Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. This act clearly spells out that if any person wants to enjoy forest-dwelling rights, then the person should have a lineage of three generations' residence in the area. The concept requiring three generations of lineage is not a policy of the BJP government. It was the Congress government that coined this term."
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