The Uttarakhand government’s dilly-dally approach to enact the new land law and declare 1950 as the cutoff year for making domicile certificates has forced the people to come on the streets.

The agitators are demanding prohibition of buying and selling of land in the hills and mandatory need of domicile certificates for select legal and government regulatory purposes.

People in Uttarakhand are gearing up to open a front against Pushkar Singh Dhami government in support of their demand for new land law that forbids outsiders from buying land in the hills similar to that of Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act 1972.

Activists and political leaders cutting across party lines have formed a state level Domicile and Land Law Coordination Committee to hold protests and agitations in every part of the Himalayan state in coming days. Similar local committees will be formed at block levels to take the agitation to every nook and corner of the state.

According to these activists, the decision to form a coordination committee at local levels was taken after a rally was held in Dehradun on Sunday that attracted a mammoth crowd. The rally was called by a group of statehood agitators who were part of the years long struggle to form separate Uttarakhand in 2000.

“Demand for state centric land law had been a long standing issue but no government took it seriously. This is the need of the hour to save lands in the hills. We want a ban on purchase of land in the hills on the lines of Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act 1972. Besides this there must be a cap on buying land for commercial activities in plain areas as well” said Uttarakhand Statehood Agitators Forum spokesperson Pradeep Kukreti.

Kukreti informed that he along with protesters have also objected to Dhami government’s recent decision to abrogate the need of domicile certificates for the permanent residents of the state.

He said domicile certificates must be made compulsory in certain lower level government jobs and other legal and revenue purposes.

“Compulsory domicile certificates in certain cases were there till 2012 but they were given up after that. Government’s recent order equating domicile certification with permanent residency has added to the injury as they will deprive locals of employment opportunities. It’s also contrary to the demands of state centric land law. We want the government to take back its recent order saying domicile certificates are not required for permanent residents. This will throw hill lands for easy sale and purchase” said Kikreti.

Kukreti’s views were echoed by another protester and member of the coordination committee Mohit Dimri as he said “mammoth crowd that showed up at Sunday rally was self-evident that people of Uttarakhand are feeling cheated by the successive governments. They are angry for not getting anything in 23 years of the state’s formation. Now they have come on the streets to save their land, existence, culture and traditional identities” said Dimri.

Both Kukreti and Dimri said protests and demonstrations will soon be started in other parts of the state.

It’s significant that the Dhami government formed a special committee in the leadership of former chief secretary of the state Subhash Kumar to study and draft new land law for the state immediately after taking over in July 2021. Committee submitted a 23-point recommendation report in September 2022 after thorough study of the Himachal Pradesh land law. However the report is biting the dust for more than a year despite Dhami’s assurance to enact and enforce new land law in the interest of the state.

Section 118 of the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act 1972 does not allow non agriculturists to purchase land outside the municipal areas. In other words this prohibition is applicable mainly on the agricultural lands in the hill areas of the state.