After amending the controversial Land Reforms Act, 2003, the Uttarakhand government has brought a new provision allowing high-rise buildings in the state. | |
| Through the new provision, which is likely to give boost to real estate developers, builders can now construct buildings up to 21 metres (seven storeyed) in the plains and 12 metres (three to four storeyed) in the hills. |
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| "The new provision has been brought keeping in mind the severe land acquisition problem due to tough forest laws," a top official said. |
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| Earlier, the BC Khanduri government had amended the land reforms Act and decided that a person who wanted to construct a house in the non-urban areas would not be able to buy more than 250 sq metre of land. Prior to it, the previous government had put up a limit of 500 sq metre in 2003. |
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| Amid reports that top real estate companies were making beeline to construct housing societies in a big way, the government under pressure from its ally "" Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) "" has put up the new limit with a view to save the agriculture land from being poached by the land sharks. |
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| According to an official estimate, already 16,000 hectares of agriculture land has fallen prey to the property builders in the state, a move resented by the UKD and other regional groups. |
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| "Our aim is to protect our land from being grabbed by the land mafia," said Revenue Minister Diwakar Bhatt. |
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| But property dealers resented the latest move saying it would deprive the people to have their own houses. "This law would adversely affect all those people, who dream of having their own houses in the state," said Anupam Bhatnagar, a property dealer. |
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| Bhatnagar feared that the property rates would take a sharp fall in the coming days once the new amendment comes into force. |
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