Bhubaneswar, Sept. 13: The Assembly today passed four bills, including the Odisha Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Bill, 2017, which seeks to accord land rights to the identified slum dwellers.

Around three lakh slum dwellers across the state will benefit from the legislation.

Citing needs for passing the slum dwellers bill, industries minister Niranjan Pujari, who piloted it, said: 'The demographic shift from rural to urban areas has been a continuous process for the past several decades in all parts of the state. The shortage of affordable space has resulted in persons occupying large chunks of government land in the urban areas.'

He further said: 'The informal settlements of the slums without land rights expose its dwellers to insecurity of land ownership and they remain under constant threat of demolition or eviction. Therefore, it was felt by the government to enact a separate legislation to provide for assigning land rights to identified slum dwellers, for redevelopment, rehabilitation and upgrade of slums in the municipal and the notified areas of the state, in order to facilitate inclusive growth and ensure delivery of basic urban services to the urban poor.'

A slum dweller within the municipal council areas is entitled to a land not exceeding 45sqm, while in the notified area council, it would not exceed 60sqm. If the slum dwellers belong to the economic weaker section, the land shall be settled free of cost. If the slum dwellers belong to any category other than the economic weaker section, the land shall be settled at such cost which shall be calculated at certain percentage of the bench mark value of the land, later to be decided from time to time.

Another important bill that got the Assembly's nod was the Odisha Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) Bill, 2017, that aims to avoid revenue leakage. Under this act, the state government aims to enhance the one-time tax from 5 per cent to 6 per cent and at higher rates for costlier vehicles in graded manner.

Besides, it is proposed to levy one-time tax on vehicles such as maxi cabs, private service vehicles and educational buses carrying not mote than 12 persons. An annual tax is levied on tractors and trailers. This will now become a one-time tax.