DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand government will set up separate committees to look into the feasibility of rolling out a population control law and a land law in the Himalayan state.
A top source told TOI that chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has said that the government will form committees to look into population control and a land law to restrict outsiders from buying land in the state.
The move comes after the state government was urged to look into the possibility of introducing a Population Control Act during a recent coordination meeting held in Dehradun, which was attended by BJP's national general secretary (organisation) B L Santosh and senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders.
BJP ruled states have witnessed a push for population control policies in the recent past. The Uttar Pradesh government has come up with a draft of the Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilization and Welfare) Bill while the Assam government has also said that it will bring a population control law to debar people with more than two children from getting government benefits.
The Uttarakhand government is also considering bringing a strict law, demand for which has been growing among residents. Earlier this month, several youngsters had taken to social media to demand land laws and protesters had also gathered outside the state assembly on July 18.
In 2003, an amendment was made to the UP Zamindari Abolition and Land Reform Act 1950 by the ND Tiwari government to prevent outsiders from buying more than 500 square metres of agricultural land in Uttarakhand.
In 2007, BJP chief minister B C Khanduri reduced the area of land that could be bought in the state by the outsiders to 250 square metres. In 2018, however, the Trivendra Singh Rawat government set aside the 2003 amendment, paving the way for outsiders to buy any amount of land in the hill state.
