‘Lal dora’ areas to be regularised, says Khattar - Hindustan Times
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‘Lal dora’ areas to be regularised, says Khattar

ByArchana Mishra
Dec 07, 2019 09:28 PM IST

Gurugram Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his deputy, Dushyant Chautala, during their visit to the city, said that they have decided to do away with ‘lal dora’ areas, which are currently exempt from house tax and other government by-laws, in the state. The project is expected to start with five villages, each, across 15 districts.

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In an hour-long meeting held at the PWD rest house, issues, such as demarcating properties in ‘lal dora’ villages and bringing them under the jurisdiction of urban local bodies.

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‘Lal dora’ signifies village land with abadi (residential houses). The area is alienated from the agriculture land and, therefore, not included in revenue records. Such areas do not fall under the jurisdiction of any local body or the department of town and country planning, due to which there has been rampant unauthorised constructions, which place additional stress on available resources.

Khattar said that demands for the expansion of ‘lal dora’ have been received from various districts, but they plan to abolish ‘lal dora’ areas completely.

In an official press statement released by the district administration, Khattar was apprised of a pilot project in Sirsi-Bhakra village of Karnal, where the land measurement has already been done and the revenue land has been identified.

Vinay Pratap Singh, the deputy commissioner of Karnal, informed the CM that unique IDs have been generated for the properties owned by families. The landholding measurement taken by the government has to be verified by the individual property owners before December 24 to avoid any dispute. Thereafter, the land records will be finalised.

Chautala said, “Our focus is to make Sirsi-Bhakra in Karnal free from ‘lal dora’ areas by 2026, and to reciprocate the same in other ‘lal dora’ areas of the district.”

Appreciating the move, Sudhir Chauhan, senior town planner, department of town and country planning, said, “We could prevent unauthorised constructions if we can bring ‘lal dora’ areas under the purview of government by-laws. In landlocked ‘lal dora’ villages within the limits of urban areas, we cannot take action even if people are constructing six-storey buildings in an unauthorised way.”

Another senior official, on the condition of anonymity, said it would be a difficult task to abolish ‘lal dora’ laws. “’Lal dora’ is old habitat land where the land is not registered in the revenue records of the state government. Locals have control over the land. Since there has been no demarcation of the land since British rule, it would be difficult for any government to demarcate the land that belonged to families for ages. It will lead to land disputes,” the official said, mentioning that the previous regime took a similar step by issuing notification for scrapping ‘lal dora’ but they had to go back on the decision.

The issue of ‘lal dora’ areas has always remained a major bone of contention for political parties. There have been continuous demands, across the state, for the expansion of such areas, which exempts them from paying house tax.

“As the population is expanding, the landholding has been decreasing. Therefore, people demand expansion of the settled area,” a retired IAS officer, having expertise in revenue, said.

Preferring anonymity, he said, “It is difficult to abolish ‘lal dora’ as certain amendments are required in the revenue act to deal with the issue.”

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