Early Times Report
Jammu, Dec 23: Even as the J&K administration looks ahead to evict hoteliers from the ski resort of Gulmarg, whose lease has expired, the Kashmir based political parties are seeking appointment in the corridors of power in New Delhi to seek “major respite”.
The sources said at least three political parties are seeking appointment in the government top brass in the national capital to seek “mercy for the hoteliers whose lease has expired in the famed resort.”
The sources said at least two senior politicians from two parties have been seeking appointments in the Prime Minister’s Office and the Union Home Ministry “for a detailed discussion on the issue of land lease issue.”
The sources said while as close relatives of one senior politician have their “future at stake” in the Gulmarg, the close aides of another politician are also running hotels at the resort. Sources said one of the senior politicians of Kashmir had been direct “beneficiary of the Gulmarg land lease in the past.”
The sources said the three parties, all of which are based in Kashmir, “are in a race to showcase before the hoteliers that they will fight for their cause and take the case to its logical conclusion.”
According to the J&K Land Grant Rules, 2022, which had replaced J&K Land Grants Rules, 1960, land can be leased for education, healthcare, tourism, skill development and recreational purposes.
It can also be given to ex-servicemen, war widows, families of deprived categories, migrant workers, building and construction workers and sufferers of natural calamities.
According to the new rules, outgoing lessees will be paid for any structure built on the land, “provided the lessee has not violated any of the conditions of the lease”.
The J&K government has been speaking tough over the implementation of the new land reforms. |
