Assam To Control Inter-Religious Land Transfers; CM Claims Kerala NGOs 'Purchase Large Plots'
Dispur, Assam: The Assam government is all set to curb all land transfers between people belonging to different religions. The state cabinet on August 27 approved standard operating procedures (SOPs) that mandate police scrutiny on all interreligious land deals.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced the decision, stating that the transfer of land between two religious groups needs to be handled very carefully in a ‘sensitive state like Assam.’ The chief minister said all the transfer proposals will now come to the state government, who will scrutinise each of them through special branch of police. The proposals will be examined from the national security angle, Sarma underlined, adding that land sales permission will be given only after that.
Notably, Sarma claimed that several NGOs from Kerala with ties to a particular religion have already purchased large plots of land or are trying to do so, stressing that the government is trying to prevent such purchases. The chief minister, without naming it, stated NGOs from Kerala have purchased land in districts such as Sreebhumi and Barpeta or are trying to do so in districts of Barak Valley (Cachar, Hailakandi and Sreebhumi).
However, Sarma further noted that the special branch of the police will look at the source of the funds meant for the land purchase, whether it has been reflected in the tax returns (of the purchaser), whether the purchase will affect the social fabric of the locality, whether there’s opposition to the sale from local residents (and such concerns have been addressed or not) and if the sale has an impact on national security in certain cases.
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After examining all these angles, the government will inform the deputy commissioners (of districts) about whether they should allow the transfer of land or not and, accordingly, the final decision will be made on the land deal. The procedure would be applied to non-governmental organizations from outside Assam who seek to get land in the state for establishing education, health institutions and so on, the chief minister added.
