25,679 Mahadalit landless families to get plots for house

Bihar government would provide three-decimal plots to remaining 25,679 landless Mahadalit families under a scheme launched five years ago, the Bihar Assembly was informed today.
Out of 2.46 lakh landless Mahadalit families identified for getting three decimal plots for housing under a scheme launched in 2009-10, 2.21 lakh families have been distributed plots till 2013-14, Revenue and Land Reforms Minister Narendra Narayan Yadav said in the Assembly.
Replying to a debate on his department's demand for expenditure of Rs 733.05 crore in 2014-15, he said the remaining 25,679 landless Mahadalit families would also be given three decimal land for housing in due course of time for which the deadline has been extended to 2015-16.

Observing that the limit of Rs 20,000 for purchase of three decimal land for each landless Mahadalit families was proving to be very low due to soaring land price in Bihar, the minister said his department has allocated 18.61 crore towards purchase of land for implementation of this scheme to the remaining families.
Not only the Mahadalits, but landless families belonging to the Scheduled Castes and those from Other Backward Castes in annexure one and two were eligible to get three decimal land for housing, he said.
Yadav said his department has also acquired land in districts, sub-divisions, and blocks to meet demand for land for infrastructure, academic, and related activities.

With disputes related to land generating strife in the society and causing law and order problems, the revenue and land reforms department has undertaken modernisation and updating the land records under the National Land Records Modernisation Programme to make land holding a transparent process, he said.
The House later passed the department's demand for expenditure of Rs 733.05 crore with voice vote amid walkout by the opposition BJP MLAs.