HP Assembly Budget session ends, House passes slum dwellers rights Act

Shimla: Budget session of the Himachal Pradesh assembly, last one for incumbent BJP government, ended on Tuesday with the House passing the state's budget for the year 2022-23,apart from voting on five other bills.

The bills passed on the last day included grant of property rights to the slum dwellers in Himachal Pradesh.

The minister for urban development and housing Suresh Bhardwaj, who had tabled the bill in the House said the HP Slum Dwellers (Proprietary Rights) Bill, 2022 aims at giving property rights to the people living in slums areas in the state.

The bill will not only benefit the eligible people living in Shimla but also in other urban local bodies across the state.

Bhardwaj said, "The BJP government is committed for the welfare of all sections of the society. This bill is an important step for the slum dwellers." Bhardwaj said, "A slum dweller shall be entitled to a land not exceeding seventy five square meters that is 2 biswa".

"Provided that where the slum dweller is in occupation of land less than seventy five square meters, the land in actual occupation of such slum dwellers may be settled accordingly," the bill reads.

The minister said the rights will be conferred free of cost to the eligible person falling in economically weaker sections. While the rates for other categories will be nominal and be decided in the notification.

The bill also proposes a fund called the Municipal Area Development Fund in each Urban Local Body to which the money received from the slum dwellers under this Act shall be credited and in addition to the same, the funds from Government or CSR may also be credited to the said fund.

Earlier to this the state assembly also passed the state's budget, which was presented in the House by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on March 4.

The Rs 51,338 crore tax free bill has more than 12 new schemes, significant hike in the wages of the ASHA workers, daily wagers, anganwadi workers and at least 13 other categories.

The Chief Minister said the House devoted at least four days for discussions on the bill and every MLA got an opportunity to debate the provision of the bill. Some of the members, including those in the opposition, gave good suggestions.

Yet, the opposition saw the budget as a " bundle of lies" and far away from the factual relaties on the development.

Biggest worry of the MLAs was rising debt liability which stood at Rs 63,000 crore and could increase by the end of the financial year to Rs 70,000 crore. All five bills were also passed by the House on the last day.

The session ,in a way, remained stormy as the opposition tried to raise issues which it could take to the masses during the upcoming state assembly elections. Thus, the House witnessed frayed tempers between the Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri on state's fiscal position, development schemes and law and order issues.