ALMORA: Villagers in distant areas of Uttarakhand have begun putting in indicators prohibiting outsiders from buying land, fearing the lack of their cultural identification and conventional lands. The initiative emerged amid rising considerations over unchecked land gross sales, notably in hill areas, the place many residents fear concerning the long-term influence of such gross sales on their communities.
Regardless of repeated requires stronger land legal guidelines, govt has but to take vital motion. The boards have been put in in a number of villages, reflecting a grassroots motion that has gained momentum in current months.
Just a few months in the past, one such board was positioned in Ainchauli village in Lamgada block. Led by locals, the signal warns that outsiders aren’t welcome to purchase land within the village. In one other case, the village of Kali Gaar Birgaon Talla took related steps underneath the management of village head Manju Kandpal. A board was erected on the village entrance, saying that no outsider may buy land throughout the gram sabha space. Kandpal mentioned, “Outsiders are shopping for land underneath the guise of scenic properties, and we have collectively determined to forestall the sale of land to guard the identification and heritage of our native communities.”
The motion has unfold to different areas as properly, together with Sult, the place villagers turned conscious in March that land was being bought utilizing cast farmer certificates. Sult tehsildar Abid Ali talked about a current case in Dabara Saural, the place 1,060 sq. metres of land have been purchased utilizing a faux certificates. “A case was filed after an investigation, and if we obtain additional complaints, motion shall be taken,” mentioned Ali.
Throughout the state, many communities share a rising worry that with out extra strong legislative measures, their area’s demographic and cultural panorama could also be completely altered. Whereas govt has but to introduce a sturdy land safety regulation, these native initiatives exhibit a willpower to safeguard the way forward for Uttarakhand’s hill communities and protect their heritage.
