Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 22: Chairman JKNPP Harsh Dev Singh said that retrieval of illegally occupied State and forest lands could be possible only under the Governor Rule.
He said that 18 lakh kanal of Government land could not have been usurped by encroachers in the State without the backing and connivance of rulers with political and other influential persons holding prime land without any lawful authority.
Pointing towards the Roshini Act enacted in 2005-2006 by the then political Government for realization of targeted revenue of Rs 25,000 crore by regularization of such un-authorized holdings, Singh said that merely an amount of Rs 76 crore was realized with the illegal encroachments still continuing to remain in the possession of the all powerful land mafia.
With several top politicians, ex-Ministers, MLAs and MPs having encroached huge tracts of Government land as revealed in media and through RTI besides through AQs in Assembly, a beginning was required to be made by evicting these mighty and powerful people who had abused their position and authority in the past to loot the State and its resources, he added.
Seeking early action and conclusion of eviction proceedings during the currency of Governor Rule itself, Singh said that a white paper should also be issued as to how and why the palatial mansions and commercial hubs constructed on State and forest lands by politicians and top bureaucrats had been granted immunity from legal and departmental action.
He appealed to the Governor’s Administration to retrieve the State and Forest land from the Ministers, MLAs, MLCs, MPs and other bureaucrats in areas like Bhatindi, Sunjwan, Chowadhi, Nagrota, Bajalta, Roop Nagar, Bantalab etc in the vicinity of Jammu city.
Asserting that politicians and bureaucrats were not above law, Singh sought appropriate action against all Ministers, legislators and bureaucrats who had encroached Government land in conformity with the principles of law and equity together with an enquiry against the officers who had allowed such constructions by tempering and damaging records.
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