 Early Times Report
JAMMU, Mar 7: A Jammu-based Advocate Ankur Sharma today made a startling disclosure. He, in fact, released the minutes of the meeting, which was held on February 14, 2018 in Jammu. The meeting was presided over by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.
The minutes of the meeting, among other things, said:
1. "Hon'ble Chief Minister directed the officers that till a formal Tribal Policy is formulated and issued; tribal population shall not be disturbed/dislocated. In case it becomes absolutely necessary to dislocate any member or family of tribal population, the same should be done in prior consultation with the Tribal Affairs Department";
2. "Hon'ble Chief Minister directed the IGP Jammu, Police authorities and all the Deputy Commissioners not to provide any police protection for eviction of tribals without the approval obtained from Tribal Affairs Department";
2. "HM FCSCA and Tribal Affairs further submitted that the Department is receiving complaints regarding misuse of Section 188 RPC and Animal Cruelty Act against Tribals as animals rearing is their profession and they are required to transport their animals from one place to another during seasonal migration. The HCM directed that due care be taken while dealing with such cases".
Each and every word contains in these relevant portions speaks for itself. The government orders clearly provides protection to the tribals the minutes of the meeting referred to.
Who would now assist the Revenue Department, the Forest Department, the Jammu Development Authority and the J&K Housing Board I getting the encroachers evicted from the illegally occupied areas since the Police have been ordered not to assist the authorities? What would happen to the cases which are before the J&K High Court? And, what would happen to the observations of the Auditor and Comptroller-General in this regard? The CAG had in its report clearly said that the land grabbers caused a loss to the state exchequer to the tune of Rs 25, 000 crore.
Mercifully, when the BJP was asked to respond to the startling revelations made by Ankur Sharma, it feigned ignorance. It feigned ignorance despite the fact that one BJP Minister and Commissioner/Secretary to the Government, Forest, Ecology and Environment Department, had attended the February 14, 2018 meeting. |
