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“Over 66,000 beneficiaries given surplus lands”

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The Hindu 22.04.2010

“Over 66,000 beneficiaries given surplus lands”

Special Correspondent

They all belong to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe, says Minister

CHENNAI: Over 66,000 beneficiaries, who have so far been assigned surplus lands under the Land Reforms Act, belong to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe, I. Periasamy, Revenue and Housing Minister, informed the Assembly on Wednesday.

Initiating a debate on the demand for grants to the Revenue Department, Mr. Periasamy said 71,298 acres had been assigned to 66,448 SCs and 320 acres to 236 STs. The remaining 1,18,455 acres were provided to others, numbering 83,807.

During 2009-2010, 70 acres had been assigned to 75 persons up to February 28, 2010. Forty-seven beneficiaries belonged to the SCs, covering 36 acres.

Giving an account of the implementation of the Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act enacted in 1961, he said lands held in excess of the ceiling limit as surplus under the law had been assigned to eligible landless persons.

The huge extent of lands was given to landless agricultural labourers only during 1970-1980.

Under the State government's special scheme of distributing wasteland to landless agricultural families, 2,12,164 acres had been distributed to 1,78,198 beneficiaries up to March 31. This scheme was launched in September 17, 2006. Of the beneficiaries, Backward Classes accounted for 66,492; Most BCs – 57,919; SCs – 41,826; STs – 3,275 and others – 8,686.

As part of another scheme of regularising encroachments on government poromboke lands and issuing house site pattas to those living on the lands, 2,22,692 pattas were issued between January 1, 2007 and March 31, 2010. The time limit of the scheme had been extended up to September 30, 2010. The eligibility period of regularisation of encroachment had been reduced from five years to three years, he said.

Census operations

Noting that Census operations would commence in the State from June 1, the Minister told the Assembly that 225 villages from 12 coastal districts had been taken up initially for creation of the National Population Register (NPR). National identity cards would be issued to residents of coastal villages in the beginning. Subsequently, coastal towns would be taken up, Mr. Periasamy said.

During the debate, K. Mahendran (Communist Party of India-Marxist) wanted the government to provide to the House the exact figure of waste land available. V. Sivapunniyam (CPI) said the government should take a re-look at the classification of some water bodies, which no longer remained so and wherein settlements had come up.

S. R. Raja (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) said that in his constituency Tambaram, virtually no land was available for taking up the government's development projects or creating public amenities.

RM. Subburam (Congress) urged Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to construct a memorial for freedom fighter S. Satyamurti in Thirumayam.

O.K. Chinnaraj (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) criticised the ruling party for not fulfilling its electoral promise of providing two acres of waste land to the landless poor.

Last Updated on Thursday, 22 April 2010 06:06