Early Times Report
Jammu, July 23: To deal withe encroachments on over 1,500 acres of government land in Jammu, the union territory administration has banned construction activities along the Tawi river and served notices to all land grabbers, officials said on Thursday.
The Jammu and Kashmir government has transferred 9,479 acres of land to the Jammu Development Authority (JDA) for development since 1973 out of which 6,818 acres has not been demarcated. A total of 1,510 acres of land in Jammu city has been encroached upon, they said.
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court, which is monitoring the anti-encroachment drive, has pulled up the and district administration for delay in the removal of encroachments on the land along the banks of Tawi river and lower Shivaliks in Jammu.
The court have also sought records of lands which have been seized from land grabbers and encroaches.
“In exercise of powers vested in me under section 144 CrPc, I do hereby restrain all persons, agencies, firms or anybody from raising any boundary wall, laying plinth or raising any other pucca or kacha construction (residential or commercial) on all kinds of land in villages Jammu Khas, Rakh Raipur, Chak Ganeshu and Chak Sardar Attar Singh”, District Magistrate Jammu, Sushma Chauhan said in an order.
She said that the order will restrain any construction activity on 8,460 kanals of land initially. The DM said that station house officers will be responsible for implementing the order in their respective jurisdictions and violators should be booked.
“Since it is not possible to serve individual notices to all the persons concerned, this order is being passed ex-parte,” Chauhan said.
According to the order, a major portion of the said state land has been transferred to the JDA and there have been frequent reports of land grabbing in the fragile Nikki Tawi area that have been thwarted by the authorities of district administration, JDA and police, Chauhan said.
“It has been noticed that some unscrupulous and anti-social elements have attempted to encroach and grab the state land in the garb of private land (which is interspersed in the Nikki Tawi area) by raising boundary walls, laying plinths or raising other constructions,” the DM said.
Chauhan further said that there is disturbance of public tranquility and peace when JDA, revenue and police authorities undertake drives for eviction of encroachers and land grabbers.
She said it has become imperative to undertake proper demarcation and delineation of the state land before any private claims are allowed to operate.
Since 2011, despite Supreme Court and subsequent High Court orders to remove the massive encroachers of thousands of acres of land from lower Shivalik ranges and Tawi river banks, respective governments and deputy commissioners have failed to implement the courts’ orders.
However, Lieutenant Governor Girish Chander Murmu has given a stern directive to all the deputy commissioners, particularly DC Jammu to remove all encroachments on government and JDA lands by launching anti-encroachment drives and clear all such areas, particularly Shivalik ranges and Tawi banks, officials said.
They said that the LG is personally monitoring the launch of survey and anti-encroachment drives in Jammu city.
So far, the JDA has completed the demarcation process in only 33 of 83 villages in Jammu. The total land demarcated by the JDA since 1973 is only 2,245 acres out of which 330 acres has been encroached, they said.
Similarly, 1,510 acres of land belonging to the JDA has been encroached in Jammu. Of the total 9,479 acres of land, 223 acres is in possession of Jammu while 1,111 acres has been utilised by the JDA while 93 acres has been regularised, officials said.
A total of 3,884 kanals (485 acres) of JDA land has been retrieved till date out of the encroached 12,083 kanals (1510 acres) in Jammu. Around 4,245 cases are pending disposal, they said.
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