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| 500 % more, still not happy | | | Nirbhay Jammual
Jammu | Apr 6
News Analysis
A central government move which has made thousands of landholders in Jammu and Kashmir rich by 500 per cent over night has still not made many happy even as it was most pressing demands from all quarters.
A definite troop strength has to be kept in all civilian inhabited areas across the state to maintain of a sense of security among the people. There are not enough barren lands or free fields in the civilian areas to station these troops. Therefore, it is the land of different categories –including agricultural and commercial –which comes under the feet of the troops.
Each one in the state, whose land is being used by the security forces, has been paid well by the government always –whether in peacetime or wartime. However, due to shrinking agricultural base and shooting real estate prices, there was a demand for hiking the rentals of land being used by army.
The Peoples Democratic Party which last year threatened to walk out of the government on the issue of troop reduction had also made land rental hike one of the major agenda points. In fact, the hike in land rental constituted a part of the mandate of the high powered committee constituted by the Prime Minister on March 30 last year to resolve the crisis blown by the Peoples Democratic Party on the issue of troop’s reduction.
Now since the central government has hiked the rentals by 200 per cent to 500 per cents none appears to be too happy. The state unit of the Congress seems to be lost in its own organizational realms as none of its leaders have uttered even a single word as what it means hiking the rentals. The Peoples Democratic Party which was ready to rock the boat last year, has not expressed a word of thanks to the central government. However, the Hurriyat Conference has definitely reacted. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has said that the hike in land rentals is not going to revolve the issues.
The Union government had on Friday announced a big hike in rental rates of the land and orchards occupied by the army. This was done following with recommendations of an expert panel set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after such demands were raised by state politicians.
The hike ranged from 200% to 500% for different categories of land and will remain in force for five years. The expert panel, incidentally, had ruled out any large-scale troop reduction in J&K at this stage.
The rental hikes were expected to help the UPA government placate People's Democratic Party which had raised the pitch for moving soldiers out of horticulture land, orchards, government and private buildings in the state. However, no sign of pleasure has so far come from the Peoples Democratic Party.
Under the new measures, for class-I category of irrigated land, the rates have been increased from Rs 1,125 to Rs 3,381 per kanal (around one-eight of an acre) per annum. The government, in turn, will pay Rs 4,087 per kanal per annum, instead of the existing Rs 1,125, for "irrigated double-cropped land". |
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