Nagpur: In a historic decision, Maharashtra government has decided to grant absolute ownership to lakhs of farmers who were for last five decades merely holders of the land whose ownership vested with the revenue department. The problem was peculiar to Vidarbha region and arose after it was hived off from the erstwhile Central Provinces to be merged with Maharashtra when the new state was born in 1960.
This set of farmers or land holders were classified as Class-II owners (bhumidharak) as against the absolute owners Class-I (Bhumiswami). The Class-II land owners had possession of land and ploughed it for generations. Since the government remained co-owner, they could not sell the land without approvals that were not easy to obtain. Now they all get Class-I status automatically without paying anything or filing applications in offices.
“This is a revolutionary move by the government and we thank revenue minister Chandrakant Patil who, as head of a cabinet sub-committee, took the decision on Wednesday,” Nagpur district guardian minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule told reporters on Thursday. He said at least 1.50 lakh farmers in Bhandara district would benefit from the decision to change the ownership status.
Tweaking the land laws, the state government did allow Class-II owners to shift to Class-I from 1968 onwards. “But the process was costly, cumbersome, lengthy and frustrating that only a few could get it done,” said Bawankule , who was also member of the sub-committee. Finance minister Sudhir Mugantiwar, rural development minister Pankaja Munde and social justice minister Rajkumar Badole were other members.
“Even after paying requisite fees that depended on holding size, farmers were made to run from pillar to post for months. We as legislators used all our powers and for years held special drives. Yet, could not achieve much. For instance, in Nagpur district there were 1.22 lakh such farmers. With our full support in all these years 80,000 of them could get ownership changed. The remaining 42,000 would now get it in a jiffy and it would reflect in their 7/12 extract,” said Dr Rajeev Potdar, district BJP chief who along with MLAs from the district Sameer Meghe, Sudhir Parwe of Umred and MLC Girish Vyas were present to announce the decision.
Chairman of state task force on farm distress Kishore Tiwari also welcomed the move calling it “historic” that would change life of lakhs of farmers in Vidarbha. “The problem was festering for decades and no government could resolve it. Now these farmers would get much-needed relief with absolute ownership,” said Tiwari. He added there were more farmers in western Vidarbha having Class-II ownership and beneficiaries would run into lakhs.
