Uttar Pradesh govt extends ‘Varasat’ scheme to legal heir of Covid-19 victims

LUCKNOW: The state government will extend the Varasat scheme, which resolves pending property ownership issues in rural UP, to benefit families who lost members to Covid-19. A 13-day special campaign launched on Tuesday will help legal heirs of those who died of Covid get property rights.
“The current phase of the scheme will provide ‘khatauni’ or record of rights to legal heirs or widows of land owners. The drive will continue till July 18 and special camps will be set up to dispose of cases. Resolving this at the earliest will ensure widows without livelihood to seamlessly get land and property rights,” said a government spokesperson.
The slogan — ‘Sabke Saath Khadi Hai Sarkar’ — will mark this campaign. Over next two weeks, lekhpals and kanungos will visit 1,08,992 revenue villages and collate details on undisputed inheritance of villagers who lost family members to Covid.
Widows won’t have to submit any application for this. Lekhpals and kanungos have been directed to collect all information on their own and take necessary action. Pattas of agricultural and residential land will be allotted to widows as per eligibility. If they are eligible to housing facilities, construction of houses will be done with help of rural development department.
The government had deputed around 22,000 lekhpals and nearly 2,500 kanungos for this drive. The entire process will be monitored by divisional commissioners and each district has to submit an action taken report by July 20.
The varasat campaign was initially launched by the government on December 15, 2020, and concluded on March 15, 2021. It was launched to resolve long-standing property disputes in favour of legal heir and inheritors. Cases concerning 9,02,576 people were resolved.