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MPs oppose Rajasthani law on land purchase

Cutting across party lines, 56 members of Parliament from both houses yesterday wrote to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee demanding the lifting of a ban on the purchase of agricultural land in Rajasthan by outsiders. The MPs also opposed the move to transfer plain areas of Udham Singh Nagar district from Uttar Pradesh to the proposed hill state of Uttaranchal.

The two separate memoranda on these issues, signed by the MPs, were submitted to the prime minister by former Union minister B S Ramoowalia, who is spearheading a campaign against the moves. He also declared that a rally would be held in Chandigarh on June 15 in support of these demands.

The MPs said that the Rajasthan government had issued an unconstitutional order prohibiting the purchase of farm land by any Indian citizen not belonging to the state.

The memorandum said a century ago, many outsiders, the bulk of them Punjabis, had purchased farm lands in Rajasthan after leaving half their families in Punjab. This right should be restored as the ban was against the interest of the Rajasthani people too because there were very few local purchasers of land in the state and this would deprive the landowners of a fair price.

If such attitudes were adopted by other states also it would weaken the very unity and integrity of the country, the memorandum cautioned.

On the proposed legislation to form a separate Uttarnchal, the MPs said that the Udham Singh Nagar district area should not be added to Uttaranchal since it did not have linguistic or cultural affinity to the hill areas. The large population of this area had migrated from other parts of the country with mixed character who were allotted lands three generations ago. The local people were against this move to join with Uttaranchal, they added.

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