A state or real estate?

In response to a recent blog of mine about unregulated construction in Himachal, a discerning reader commented that he had done an online search for available properties in the state and, to his horror, found that 23,450 properties were advertised for sale/rent/lease between just Shimla and Narkanda, a stretch of around 90 km.

Even allowing for double counting, these figures tell a tale which our policymakers would do well to listen to, and heed. For what they tell us is that faulty policies, lack of vision or an inadequate understanding of economics are making Himachal prime real estate, up for grabs by whoever has the money and connections to exploit the system.

But some background first.

Land is a precious commodity in Himachal, for the utilisable land is less than 15 per cent of its geographical area — 8 lakh hectares against a total of 55.67 lakh hectares, the rest being forests, 'gair mumkin' or areas above the tree line where nothing grows. The actual area under agriculture is even less — just about 5.25 lakh hectares.

Farming is almost at subsistence level. The average landholding is 0.94 hectares (in Punjab it is 3.64 hectares), and small and marginal farmers hold 89 per cent of the arable land. Industry is almost non-existent and the state has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

For all these reasons, as Nirmanyu Chauhan and Divyanshu Thakur put it so eloquently in their article in The Wire (8 March), land in this state is not just a commodity; it is a source of dignity, livelihood and autonomy. And security.

Himachal's first chief minister Y.S. Parmar had the vision to realise this and therefore took steps to ensure that Himachalis were not deprived of their lands by rich and exploitative outside elements. He brought in the Tenancy and Land Reforms Act in 1974, Section 118 of which imposes severe restrictions on non-Himachalis buying land in the state. They can do so only after obtaining prior approval of the government.

Subsequent chief ministers, sadly, have lacked the same foresight and have introduced so many exemptions and loopholes in the law that now any smart lawyer or purchaser can buy any extent of land in the state for any purpose. And this is happening on a colossal scale, as the Shimla-Narkanda figure in the first paragraph proves. In just the last three years, 1,494 approvals have been granted, but this is only the proverbial tip of the iceberg; the real mass of the problem lies below.

The actual transfer of land to, and purchase by, outsiders would be many times the number of approvals officially cited above. This is because of the many exemptions provided to the operation of Section 118: no approval is required for a society consisting of agriculturists, flats built in urban areas, houses/flats taken on lease, or RERA-approved builder developments. These exemptions are actually loopholes and have virtually thrown up the whole of Himachal to land sharks and builders.

In addition, 'benami' land transfers are another way of avoiding the rigours of the law.

As living conditions in north Indian cities and metros steadily worsen, more and more people there are now investing in second homes in places like Uttarakhand and Himachal, especially post-Covid. The threat now is to rural Himachal and its original residents.

Land prices have sky-rocketed, and the Himachali landowner, unable to resist the lure of quick money, is being dispossessed of his ancestral lands on an ever-increasing scale by hotels, homestays, builder developments and resorts. This is changing the very architecture of the mountains, replacing green cover with concrete, affecting the demographics (as in the 'ghost' villages of Uttarakhand) and distorting local cultures.

At risk is not only the geology but the very identity of the state.

The state's policymakers must look at the long-term implications of such land transfers. It is time to review Section 118 of the HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act to make it more restrictive.

No approval should be given under this section for the construction of hotels and resorts in rural areas — they are ruining the hinterlands, just as they have the cities. One has only to visit the Tirthan Valley, the Jalori Pass-to-Jibhi stretch, the once-pristine Barog Saddle or the Mashobra-Naldehra section to see for oneself how pastoral Himachal is being converted into a concrete mess of multi-storeyed structures.

There should be a complete ban on Section 118 approvals for real estate developments, housing societies, multi-storey apartment blocks or villas. All the existing exemptions/loopholes in the Act need to be reviewed, especially those pertaining to RERA projects, purchase of flats and leases.

Some new curbs need to be introduced in the law — for example, a ban on the purchase of land belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and BPL families (as in Uttarakhand) to prevent their exploitation by deep-pocketed outsiders and land sharks.

Except for specific projects approved by the government, non-Himachalis who wish to purchase land in the state should be required to establish some connection to the state, whether by way of service, business or family, for a minimum number of years to qualify.

There would, of course, be legal considerations involved in adopting this course of action. There is bound to be resistance from some panchayats, as land values will drop; from politicians egged on by land dealers and real estate companies; from the builder and property-dealer lobbies; and from influential people in the metros looking for a piece of the mountains as their own premium condos are engulfed by pollution and civic collapse.

Fortunately, the Himachal Pradesh High Court at least has grasped the gravity of the matter. In a recent order, it has castigated the government for allowing the concretisation and denudation of the green cover of Barog. It has sought details of approvals accorded under Section 118, sanction of building plans and the number of trees felled on private land, and has even warned that it would not hesitate to order an investigation by the CBI.

Anyone who loves Himachal and its people will welcome this order and hope that it is the first of many to follow.

The government should stop playing politics and making money, and should realise that this is a matter of survival for the mountains and the people to whom they belong.

The state cannot be allowed to become one huge resort or gated community.

Views are personal. More of the writer's works here

A shorter version of this piece originally appeared in The Tribune

Avay Shukla is a retired IAS officer and author of The Last Sky — Countdown for an Endangered Planet and other works. He blogs at avayshukla.blogspot.com