Plea for ordinance to allow sale of unapproved plots

The federation has also sought the government to give a favourable reply to the High Court when the case comes for hearing on February 27. 

“The ordinance for Jallikattu is to protect the culture. We are seeking an ordinance to protect people’s livelihood. The state government should follow Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar that have introduced bills in the recent years to facilitate streamlining of unapproved sites,” FAIRAAA president A Henry said. He also suggested that the government could fix nominal fee for this process. 

The federation claimed that the blanket ban has left drought-hit farmers clueless on what to do as they are neither able to cultivate without water for irrigation and nor sell the land to realtor. Lakhs of construction workers have gone jobless due to the ban. FAIRAAA also threatened to stage mass protests if their demands were not met before February 27. “We will picket Registrar Offices across the state and will not allow any registration to take place,” Henry said and added that they havebeen forced to consider the protest route seriously as their representations to the Chief Minister and authorities concerned have not been fruitful. 

Expressing disappointment over the budget, the federation stated that the slab fixed by nationalised banks for affordable houses should be increased from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 35 lakh. They also said that the subsidy extended for such houses should be increased to Rs 5 lakh from the existing Rs 2 lakh. Making house sites less than 1,000 sq ft affordable through subsidy was also among their demands to the Union government.