Over 11 lakh kanals of State land under possession of land mafia

 Over 11 lakh kanals of State land under possession of land mafia 

Politicians, bureaucrats and police officials among encroachers

Yash KhajuriaJAMMU, April 27: The strong nexus of influential politicians, top government officials, traders and land mafia continues to haunt the State Government as the huge chunk of its land was still under their illegal possession at various places across Jammu province and the latter has failed to take action against encroachers. 

As per the information provided by the government, as much as 11, 06,499 kanalsand even more of its land stands encroached by the land sharks in the Jammu province only.

Only three districts Jammu, Kathua and Samba have a total of 1,62,666 kanals ofland under illegal occupation, whereas in Districts Udhampur, Rajouri and Ramban 5,53,115 kanals of land was under encroachment out of which 3,92,035 kanals of encroached land falls under Rajouri district only.

District wise the encroachment figure stood at Reasi with 1,07,010 kanals, Kishtwar with 74,266 kanals, Poonch 64,135 Kanals, Kathua 28,535 Kanals, Udhampur 69,915 kanals, Samba 97,113 kanals, Rajouri 3,92,035 kanals, Ramban 91,163 kanals and Doda 1,10,649 kanals. Though, there are no reports of non statesubjects establishing colonies over the state land. 

Meanwhile, the occupants of state land have applied under Roshni scheme. 

Government claimed that concerned revenue field agencies have initiated eviction proceedings against such occupants whose application have been rejected by the concerned District price fixation committees constituted under the J&K state land / vesting of ownership to the occupants act.

Only the un-authorised occupants of the retrieved JDA land have been evicted as reported by the Divisional commissioner, Jammu. Since thousands of nomadic gujjars and bakkerwals are the part of the population of the state, says government reply.

Official sources said that hundreds of kanals of land on Jammu-Akhnoor road have been grabbed candidly by the politicians belonging to the ruling coalition partners, but no step is being taken against them despite several complaints.

The nexus is growing day by day with no check on influential persons by any anti-corruption body as they were either linked mostly to the ruling parties or enjoyed patronage of politicians and police.

Even some police officials posted in Samba, Kathua have helped the politicians of ruling congress-NC government in grabbing and have been given prestigious postings by the government. 

“The Revenue officials are quick to oblige the Ministers by converting title of theland on the names provided by them. Not only the Minister but also a number of his favourites including police and Revenue officials have also taken the advantage of poor anti-corruption mechanism”, said a source.

Former Tehsildar, Jammu, Bashir Patwari had not only been given out of turn promotion but also the prize posting of Jammu tehsil by a Cabinet Minister in lieu of a huge sum, sources said, adding when the officers get postings by paying a huge amount, they start indulging in encroachments and other kind of undesirable activities to plunder the State exchequer.

Sources said the General Administration Department (GAD) was sitting over grant of prosecution sanction to the Vigilance Organisation against a number of officials leading to delay in presentation of challans against them.

According to sources, such was the strong nexus among politicians, police, Revenue officials and land mafia that all of them had grown from rags to riches in just few years.
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Rampant use of heavy vehicles, machinery near wildlife area despite ban

Rampant use of heavy vehicles, machinery near wildlife area despite ban

Yash Khajuria
JAMMU, Jan 28: Despite ban on use of heavy machineries and other equipments near the wildlife area in the outskirts of Jammu to prevent noise pollution and maintaining eco friendly atmosphere, the illegal mining practice is on full swing near wildlife area at Sidhra.

Pertinently, the use of heavy machinery is strictly banned at the areas adjoining to the wildlife stretch. Despite this, the Geology and Mining Department violates the ban using heavy machines and other infrastructure including heavy vehicles for mining practices.

Sources disclosed that State Government had cited a number of objections on heavy machineries and the trucks for the mining and transportation of the material from the sites. “The Geology and Mining department and the agencies are planning to halt the mining as all the objections cited by the Wildlife Protection Department are true and the departments have no answer to them, they added.

Moreover, the ban was imposed by District Magistrate Jammu on the extraction of sand and gravel from river beds but the illegal practice is continuous due to nexus between powerful mining mafia and officials of the department.

Owing to this, state exchequer is bearing the loss in crores of rupees every month as the Geology and Mining Department was authorized to receive royalty on extraction of major as well as minor minerals in the state at the rates fixed by the Government as per scheduled SRO 85.

When contacted, Rajeshwar Singh, District Level Officer, Geology and Mining department, said they had received a copy from the state government regarding the ban on use of heavy machinery and equipments for the mining near the wildlife region at Sidhra and the department was preparing to answer the copy.

He denied any sort of illegal mining in the region by the mafia and said that mining was going on within the guidelines and under the tendered area.

When contacted, Conservator Wild Life General, Asif M Sagar, said the use of heavy machinery and heavy vehicles was adversely affecting the wildlife in the region and now they were defining the eco-sensitive zones of various wildlife regions after which they serve a notice to the concerned department and would also take help from the pollution control board.

According to Additional Deputy Commissioner, Ravi Shanker Sharma, it was mainly the task of Geology and Mining Department and their job was only to check whether any structure was endangering or any issue regarding the revenue. “We have asked the concerned SHO’s and Tehsildars to check the mining sites under their jurisdictions though we have constituted no special squad to keep eye on mining mafia” he added.

Mukhtar Ahmed, Mining Engineer Geology and Mining Department told that they had mostly issued royalty contracts to different contractors who pay in advance to the department. There are many sites where department itself charges the royalty due to non-availability of contractor and illegal mining is prevalent at those sites, he admitted.

No check over adulteration, quality of food items sold in market

Authorities dishonoring directions of High Court

No check over adulteration, quality of food items sold in market

Yash Khajuria
JAMMU, Jan 27: Courtesy to the overall lethargic approach of the Municipal Corporations, the general health of the people is on risk as the hygiene and quality of the food items been sold in markets is not being checked periodically. Even the direction of High Court is also not being honoured.

As per the recent PIL in J&K high Court regarding implementation of Food Safety Standards Act 2006, and 2011, the court had directed MCs to collect samples of all the eatables from all the shops/ factories on weekly basis and get those tested. The authorities have not even bothered to brace themselves up in the wake of reported Swine Flu cases.

The condition of slaughter houses is very unhygienic. As per data, almost 4 tonnes of mutton was being consumed in Jammu and Kashmir annually whereas alone Kashmir valley consuming 2.5 tonnes of mutton annually. Everyday thousand of sheep were slaughtered to meet food requirements. Despite this the region is without hygienic modern slaughter house. Many butchers continue to slaughter sheep at their own places, thus infections were always a threat.

“With no check on quality of non-vegetarian items whether it is disease free or not, it increases the possibilities of diseases as critical as cancer. If cancer or infected increased body mass can develop in human body, it certainly can develop in any living being. Most of the diseases and numbers of Cancers, these days are directly or indirectly related with unhygienic and unchecked food”, said Dr Dharminder, a Cardiologist serving in Medical College Jammu.

According to sources, to meet the requirement of the customers slaughters house owners feed supplements to the animals, which include highly adulterated feeds.
“Most of the milkmen mix packed milk to meet the demand, at the same time the milk sold in market is also without any checks. It should be made mandatory to get the milk at an organized sector and has to be tested before it goes to open market, whether it is from shop or from milkmen”, Said RTI activist Raman Sharma.

When contacted, Vinod Sharma, Health officer Jammu Municipal Corporation, said that they had appointed four food safety officer in Jammu for inspection at various food establishments to check the quality of food items being sold in the city. They collect minimum of two samples weekly for the lab test, he added.

When asked about the hygiene in the slaughter houses, he replied that they were not penalizing any of the slaughter house in this regard since as per the orders of Central Government, all the slaughter houses were directed to come up with the hygiene and quality of food which is to be sold to the consumers till 4 Feb 2013 and most of the slaughter houses are turned quite hygienic in the corporation area.

29 banquet halls without parking spaces, unafraid of action

DEFYING RULES

29 banquet halls without parking spaces, unafraid of action

Yashkhajuria
JAMMU, Jan 22: Despite repeated warning, 29 banquet halls continue to defy rules and have failed to create parking space for hosting marriage and other functions since 2010, when the HIgh Court has given them time to follow proper norms.

There are nearly 114 banquet halls in Jammu, mostly used for marriage and other social functions, but most of them does not have required infrastructure, particularly the parking area and fire fighting equipment.

Under SRO-64 dated February 2010 and amended in the new master plan, for construction of new halls, a minimum of 16 kanals of land is required, which should cover 30 per cent of the total area. Under the master plan minimum of Floor Area Ratio (FAR) should be kept for the parking and hall should be well ventilated, having space for 100 cars.

Most of the banquet halls have faced closure notices from Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) in the past and they had submitted before the High Court that parking space would be created, after which court has granted them time.

As per the norms every banquet hall is required to create space for 100 vehicles but most of them even constructed by Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC), Jammu Development Authority (JDA) and Jammu and Kashmir State Road Transport Corporation are not following the norms.

“In defiance of the norms, more than two dozen community halls continue to run illegally, with necessary parking space and safety standards and they have been ignoring the repeated warnings”, said a official.

District administration has been warning these banquet halls owners not to organize events, function of any kind for which they have not have the required license and facilities, but these warnings are being ignored repeatedly.

When contacted Commissioner JMC, K.L Khajuria said, “Final warning has been issued to these halls owners and Corporation will again approach to High Court so that action could be taken against them”.