GUWAHATI: The Mission Basundhara, aimed at addressing land validation and settlement issues in Guwahati, appears to be mired in inefficiency, with the majority of applications remaining unresolved. Despite a staggering 48,689 applicants seeking validation for their land under the initiative, the state government's progress has been dismal, raising serious concerns about the efficacy of the programme.
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In response to an official query, the Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management, Jogen Mohan, revealed that only 1,067 of these applications have been approved—a mere fraction of the total submissions. The breakdown of the numbers provides a grim insight into the slow pace at which the government is addressing the citizens' needs.
Of the 622 applications for converting grant land into periodic patta land, only 78 have been accepted. In a similar outcome, 40 out of 438 applications for converting annual patta land into periodic patta were approved. The most striking statistic is the 44,412 applications for the settlement of general government and ceiling government land, of which just 946 have been passed. This represents a success rate of just over 2%, an alarming indicator of the programme’s inefficiency.
Applications involving riots—farmers with possession rights seeking ownership rights—fared no better, with none of the 291 applications being accepted. Similarly, other categories such as the settlement of transferred annual patta (3 out of 2,867 applications approved), land settlement for indigenous communities for special cultivation (0 out of 5), and the settlement of land for members of tribal communities on ancestral land (0 out of 13) all reflect the government's inability to deliver on its promises.
Furthermore, applications for land settlement in favour of individuals who were previously allotted or settled in village grazing and occupational grazing lands have seen no progress, with all 41 applications rejected.
The revelation of these numbers has sparked widespread discontent among applicants and the broader public. Critics have slammed the state government for its sluggish performance, questioning whether Mission Basundhara is truly committed to resolving land disputes or merely an exercise in bureaucratic red tape. The failure to expedite these applications has left thousands of residents in Guwahati in a state of uncertainty, unable to secure their land rights in a timely manner.