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| Parliamentary Committee confirms land grabbing in Kashmir | | | If Jammu and Kashmir state was, once, dubbed as second corrupt state after Bihar there should be hardly any doubt if this border state is on the top of the list of those states where encroachment on Government and private land including the forest land has become a problem. This rapid encroachment followed by construction of residential colonies or industrial units has been one of the factors for raising the level of environmental pollution and degradation of forest wealth in Jammu and Kashmir.Over the years the land grabbers have become so active in Jammu and Kashmir that there are series of instances which support the claim of official agencies on land grabbing.And during the last over four decades Jammu and Kashmir has become a safe haven for land grabbers.
In fact the problem of illegal encroachment on Government land,particularly forest belts,has surfaced during the last 25 years of the rise of militancy.Gun toting youth indulged in open loot of forest wealth and besides indulging in illegal felling of trees these militants carried out land grabbing for raising residential houses or for setting up industrial units.Since these militants had caused deep scare among people and the Government officials, including the police no attempt was made at freeing land from illegal occupation of these militants.
And if any proof was required for establishing the high level of land grabbing it has been given by the members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science, Technology, Environment and Forests,who had visited Jammu and Kashmir for assessing the situation on environmental pollution. The Committee has slammed Jammu and Kash mir government for "lack of political and administrative will" to curb Master Plan violations and environmental degradation.
"There are certain critical areas of governance in which the question is not about the lack of resources but the question is about lack of political and administrative will," Ashwani Kumar, head of the panel has said .Kumar said the panel noted that there have been violations of the Srinagar Master Plan and pollution of water bodies. "The Srinagar Master Plan has not been compiled at all.
Haphazard constructions are the order of the day. The pollution of water bodies including Dal, Wular and Nageen is continuing unabated," he said.The Committee members were worried over the rate of deforestation and encroachment of forestland which pose major challenges for the state.The Committee members were told that 13300 hectares of forestland have been encroached in the State. The panel has asked the state government to submit an action plan within a week's time for preventing further encroachments.
Well is it possible for the state Government to submit action plan within one week ? Yes,the state Government may be able to submit the action plan within one week but it is still doubtful if the PDP-BJP coalition Government is able to retrieve all the forest land from the encroachers. Possibilities for removing encroachment on Government land or forest belts seem to be bleak because the land grabbers or what may be called the land mafia have links with powerful bureaucrats, police officers and political leaders.
Reports indicate that in various areas of the state senior police officers, bureaucrats nd political leaders have been responsible for grabbing Government and forest lands.Over the years the central and the state Governments have spent almost a fortune on Dal lake development and conservation.The result of these efforts have proved negligible and the Dal Lake continues to shrink and face pollution. Where has the money, which was to be spent on Lake conservation gone ?
Let there be a high level probe before a new plan was formulated for the conservation of Nigin and Wullar lakes. Conservation and development of all water bodies should be made part of the tourism promotion plan.The plan should also include conservation of heritage sites.Let the coalition Government declare a war against land grabbers so that vast chunks of forest lnd was retrieved and developed as belts for promoting forest wealth. |
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