Genuine buyers can acquire land in HP: Anurag Thakur

Union minister Anurag Thakur on Monday said that despite Section 118 of the Himachal Pradesh Land Tenancy and Reform Act being in force, "genuine buyers" can purchase land in the hill-state.

The Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs who is also the MP from Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh was addressing reporters here on the completion of 100 days of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-II government.

He was replying to a query regarding statements made by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi that outsiders be allowed to buy land in Himachal Pradesh.

"Though section 118 is a state subject, yet I want to make it clear that genuine buyers can buy land in Himachal Pradesh after getting due permission," Thakur said.

Recalling a special package for Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir announced by late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Peterhoff in Shimla on September 1, 2002, he said that industrialists had not faced any difficulty in getting land in Himachal at that time.

Any genuine buyer who wants to buy land for investment or for constructing a house in Himachal does not face any difficulty, he claimed.