Jharkhand puts drone survey under ‘Swamitva Yojna’ on hold amid tribal protest

PTI, Mar 11, 2022, 5:37 PM IST

Ranchi: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday announced that the drone survey in Khunti district as part of the Centre’s ‘Swamitva Yojana’ or land ownership scheme was being put on hold in the wake of the widespread protests by tribal people in the area.

The scheme, launched in April 2020, aims to create digital records of immovable properties of rural residents with the use of modern technology. Villagers, following the survey, will be provided property ownership cards.

In Jharkhand, the pilot project took off in Khunti district in November last year and 175 villages were covered under the scheme in Arki block during the first phase. Suspecting ill-motives, however, some tribals in the district had been protesting against the programme since the very beginning. Soren, during Friday’s Assembly session, said, ”The scheme is being implemented across the country by the Union government. In Khunti, the survey has been undertaken in several blocks. People in some parts of the district, however, had been protesting against the programme. As of now, we are putting the survey on hold. A proper decision in the matter will be taken after an assessment of the situation.” Bagodar legislator Vinod Kumar Singh, who had raised the issue in the Assembly, pointed out that several houses have been constructed in the area in violation of Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act.

”Khunti falls under 5th schedule area (under which tribal rights are protected). Many houses or constructions have been made there in violation of the Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act. Gram Sabhas there have been demonstrating against the drone survey. I want to ask the government if it also intends to give ownership rights for properties built in violation of the Act,” the CPI(ML)(L) legislator sought to know.

He maintained that Khunti, in the past too, had been the ”epicentre of government experiments”.

Earlier in the day, Congress legislator Pradip Yadav contended that top private hospitals in the state often refused to entertain poor patients enrolled under Ayushman Bharat scheme.

BJP legislator Biranchi Narayan and JMM MLA Sudivya Kumar were among those who echoed Yadav.

The legislators sought government intervention in the matter.

As health minister Banna Gupta was not present during the session, Badal Patralekh, who holds the agriculture portfolio, said on his behalf that action would be taken against hospitals, if the allegations made were found to be true.

”We also have a helpline number ‘104’. People could register complaints on that number,” he said, adding that as many as 831 government and private hospitals are empanelled under the Ayushman Bharat scheme.

Meanwhile, welcoming the government’s decision to stall the drone survey, the convener of Advasi-Moolvasi Astitva Raksha Manch (AMARM), Dayamani Barla, told PTI that the tribals there fear they might end up losing community land following the implementation of the central project.

“Almost 80 per cent of the territory in Khunti is community land. After the digital survey, the government might give property card to owners but we have no clue what would happen to the community land, managed by gram sabhas. We fear that the government might take control of the community land in the future,” Barla, who has been spearheading protests against the scheme along with other members of AMARM, added.