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| After LC chairman, Ustara now with Chief Minister | | Fresh evidence nails Taj in Sedhav forest land grab; PCCF submits report to forest minister, CM | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
JAMMU, Nov 25: With fresh clinching evidence nailing him, self-claimed blessings of ‘New Delhi’ which helped Minister for PHE Taj Mohi-ud-din to get the house committee probing charges of forest land grab against him shelved, breach the legislative discipline and refer the action of Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative council as ‘Bandar kye haath mein Ustara’ are unlikely to make much difference.
Fresh evidence, copies of which are with Early Times as well as with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Forest Minister Mian Altaf shows the high profile and Taj Mohi-ud-din in illegal occupation of 14 Kanals of forest land in Sedhav forest area of Shopian district in South Kashmir. Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) Vinod Ranjan vide letter no.PCCF/L/Land/2012/NM/2413-14 dated 09-11-2012 has forwarded the report submitted by DFP Shopian vide letter no.DFO/Spn/2241-43/L dated 09-11-2012 into the alleged land grab to Commissioner/Secretary Forest Ejaz Iqbal.
Though it may have no connection with the forest land grab but Forest Secretary Ejaz Iqbal is a close relative of Taj Mohiuddin and it is he, who has initiated the inquiry vide letter no.FST/land/54/2012 dated 07-11-2012. According to the report submitted by DFO Shopian vide no: DFO/SPN/2241-43/2 dated 09-11-2012, PHE Minister Chowdri Taj Mohi-ud-din son of Brigadier Khuda Baksh, resident of Batmaloo has occupied 14 Kanals of forest land in Sedhav area of Shopian.
This land is surrounded by propriety lands of the locals on the right flank and forest compartment no.V-4c on the upper side and on the left bank. It is guarded by 2100 rfts of chain link fencing having 60-70 coniferous trees and around 200-300 Apple plants and two Pucca structures constructed over it. In the year 2007, the then Assistant Commissioner (AC) Shopian vide no.285/DCS/SQ dated: 06-08-2007 had approached office of DFO Shopian for furnishing ‘No Objection Certificate (NOC)’ of the said occupied land at Sedhav which the occupant had attributed to Roshni Act.
DFO Shopian had vide no.687/Roshni Case dated 21-05-2008 returned the case with the observation ‘that the land attributed to Roshni Act is purely forest land because of the fact that Coniferous green crop exist on ground’. The official report of DFO further states that in the year 2011, Superintendent of Police (SP) State Vigilance Organization (SVO) Kashmir vide no.SP(ABP)10-AW-301 dated 26-02-2011 inquired about the status of this 14 Kanals of forest land.
He maintains that queries were replied vide this office no.DFO/Spn/504/Acctts dated 17-02-2011 and DFO/Spn/1195/L dated 28-02-2011. In both the communications, one page report maintains that SVO was told in black and white that Chowdri Taj Mohi-ud-din has encroached Forest land but the only thing left out was quantum of land encroached. This was due to lack of proper demarcation of the area.
In order to known the quantum of land encroached by the PHE Minister, DFO Demarcation Division Srinagar was approached who deputed his range officer concerned for delineation of land in question. DFO (Demarcation) vide no.DEM/L/2011/261-65 dated 28-05-2011 submitted a report stressing the territorial staff to ascertain the status of the land in question by themselves after furnishing the rough sketch map and geo-references of the site in question.
Surprisingly, the territorial staff could not ascertain the quantum of land encroached as the permanent demarcation pillars were not fixed on site. As a follow to this, the staff accompanying the demarcation party got transferred and temporary marks shown on ground could not last long and vanished soon, the report maintains. Once this demarcation process was hindered, the occupied land which was earlier fenced by Barbed wire was now replaced by Chain Link fencing.
Hence, the powerful PHE Minister managed to forcefully keep the occupied land out of bounds of the territorial staff after June 2011. Now, the DFO has recommended the government that the total land encroached by Taj Mohi-ud-din i.e. whether it is 14 Kanals only or more than that could be established only after fixing the demarcation pillars. DFO Shopian has sought help of District Administration, Police and Revenue Authorities to accomplish the job.
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