Mess about JDA land

Scams of land gabbing have been making rounds for quite some time. In these columns also we have repeatedly touched on the issue and warned the Government that there is a vast nexus of land grabbers in which not only private but even Government agencies are also alleged to be involved. One peculiar dimension of land grab with the JDA is that the transferred land is not properly demarcated, is not fenced and does not carry clear entries in revenue records. At the same time the land transferred to JDA is huge running in thousands of kanals and much of it is prime land. A more recent case coming to light is the mess about 2813 kanals and 10 marlas of prime land at Belicharana created by the field staff of the Revenue Department.  When reports of encroachment of this chunk of land came to JDA, it started investigating into the status of the land. What has come to light is that two residential colonies Doda Basti and Bashir Colony have already come up on the site. The local residents claim that the colonies sprang much before the land in question was transferred to JDA. The question is why did not authorities made physical inspection of the land when it was transferred to it in 2004. After all physical possessing of the land is part of the deal and formality that needed to be completed.
We have already said that there is big dispute about more than 66 thousand kanals of State land that has been transferred to JDA many years ago. The Belicharana dispute is in addition. This shows that there exists big mess in revenue records about the state land. It asks for special agency to go into the matter and bring about a comprehensive status report on the lands that were transferred to JDA. The agency should suggest means of retrieving the encroached land or land illegally taken by individuals or organizations. Resolving it by piecemeal method will not do. The Government has to have the will of vacating illegally occupied land. This has become a big issue because many powerful and influential persons are involved in this scam.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here