In a bid to control haphazard use of land the government on Monday drafted National Land Use Policy 2012 with the aim to manage, classify and put them to proper long term use. The Ministry of Land Reforms and Management finalized the policy.

The policy calls for the land to be classified into six categories - agriculture area, residential area, commercial area, industrial area, forest area and public and other neccesity area, with provisions to preserve at least 40 percent of the total lands area for forestry and allows the government to acquire any land, if necessary, for infrastructure development.

“Land can be only used in accordance with the classification. While conducting any developmental activities, it must be in accordance with ´Land Use Plan," says the policy. The government will discourage people to leave land uncultivated and from using fertile land for non-agricultural purpose. The state will identify and preserve environmentally sensitive land and will discourage people to reside in the areas prone to natural disaster.

According to the policy, the government will implement ´Land Use Plan´ in phases over several years. The government will also allocate minimum green zones and open areas in cities.

Tax fixation and evaluation of land will be based on categorization and usage. Similarly, the government will determine “Land Use Zoning´ to extract optimum benefit. People in high mountainous areas will be encouraged toward herb and fruit production as well as environment-friendly agricultural production across Tarai and hill region.

According to the policy, the state will launch Land Pooling program to develop residential area, industrial area and area to carry out developmental projects.

In order to make recommendation to the government from time to time the existing Land Use Council will be further activated, says the policy. Similarly separate committees will be formed in villages, districts and municipalities to implement the policy.

source: republica, 19 April 2012