Politicians- police- mafia nexus encroach thousands of kanals of land

Land encroachment in Jammu, Kathua, Samba

Politicians- police- mafia nexus encroach thousands of kanals of land

Yash Khajuria

JAMMU, Aug 23: A nexus among Ministers, police, Revenue officials and land mafia has caused the State exchequer a heavy loss to the tune of several crores due to encroachment on the Government land at various places. In Samba and Jammu districts alone, the losses would run into several crores.

Official sources said that hundreds of kanals of land on Jammu-Akhnoor  road  have been grabbed by the politicians belonging to the National Conference (NC) and Congress, 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 the land 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.  A police official said there was not a single day when he didn’t come across the complaints of double sale of plots in Greater Kailash, Bhatindi and surrounding localities.