According to a report, the Bihar government has so far distributed over 73,000 acres of ‘Bhoodan land’ among the poor in 13 districts and there are no parcels available for allotment in these areas.
He said about 1.06 lakh acres of land donated during the ‘Bhoodan’ movement led by human rights activist Vinoba Bhave in the 1950s has been found “not suitable for distribution” among the landless in these districts.
Significantly, the Bihar government had formed a three-member commission in 2017 to investigate the paperwork of the land donated during the movement.
Commission chief Ashok Kumar Choudhary told PTI-language, the panel has found that the revenue records of about 1.06 lakh acres of land donated during the Bhoodan campaign in these districts have not been verified.
These 13 districts include Gopalganj, Supaul, Muzaffarpur, East Champaran, Saharsa, Sitamarhi, West Champaran, Darbhanga.
“So far, 73,245.47 acres of ‘confirmed’ donated land has been distributed among the landless in these 13 districts, with the maximum of 25,752 acres given to the poor in Supaul,” Choudhary said on Sunday.
The commission submitted its report to the state government on 3 March.
“All the land parcels, which were found suitable for distribution among the poor, had already been allotted by the ‘Bihar Bhoodan Yagya Samiti’ in 13 districts. The remaining 1.06 lakh acres of land was not found fit for distribution.
He said people had donated huge plots of land during the agitation, but the state ‘Bhoodan Committee’ later found that many of these plots did not have proper documents.
“Besides, some plots were found to be located on river beds, hills and forests,” Chowdhury, former chief secretary, said, adding that the entire process of land distribution was delayed by decades due to the problem of identification.
The commission in its report said that the Bihar government has so far distributed over 2.56 lakh acres of land across the state, out of the 6.48 lakh acres it received during the Bhoodan movement.
Born in 1895, Vinova Bhave dedicated her life to propagating Gandhian values and is particularly remembered for the ‘Bhoodan’ campaign, as part of which she provided landless land to the rich and affluent across the country. Persuaded to donate land for distribution among the poor.
A senior official of the Department of Revenue and Land Reforms said that according to the study of the commission, it has been found that 1.04 lakh acres of land in the state has been found suitable for distribution among the poor and landless.
He said that at least 2.92 lakh acres are stuck in various legal and administrative hurdles and can be handed over to the beneficiaries only after some changes are made in the existing laws in the state.
The commission has also recommended that the ‘Bhoodan Yagya Committee’ of the state government should be reconstituted and the Chief Minister should be made its ‘ex-officio’ chairman for speedy distribution of such land.
