VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, March 14: The Hemant Soren government on Monday informed the assembly that the local residence and employment policy of Jharkhand will be reconsidered and reviewed in accordance with land surveys conducted in different districts at different points in time.
The government also clarified that the land survey of 1932 can’t be the only cut of date across the districts of Jharkhand.
“Land survey of 1932 is one of the criteria. But it can’t be the only criteria. It is because of the reason that in different districts, the survey was conducted at different points of time. For instance, the survey was conducted in 1964 also,” Rural Development minister Alamgir Alam said during the budget session of the assembly.
The minister said that till the government revises the policy, the decision of the previous government will remain in operation. The then Raghubar Das government had announced a policy in April 2016.
The minister said while responding to a question asked by MLA Saryu Roy who had asked a straight question whether or not the government intended to revise local residence and employment policy on the basis of the 1932 land record survey as the cut-off date.
The minister said that on a previous occasion, the chief minister had told the House that the government was legally examining the matter and any decision would be taken in the interest of Jharkhand. The Minister said that in 2002 a writ petition was filed at Jharkhand High Court.
However, Roy and other members of the opposition were not satisfied with the answer and said that the government was evading a categorical reply. Intervening in the debate, Sudesh Mahto told the minister that what he said did not match with what other ministers of the government said.
“But your minister Champai Soren and Jagarnath Mahto have been claiming that 1932 would be the cut-off date for the domicile,” he said. Members said that the government should resolve this matter as soon as possible. Notably, the controversy over domicile policy has erupted once again as some tribal outfits and ministers in the government pressed the demand to scrap the policy formed by the previous government.
