Suhail Bhat
Srinagar, Apr 29: Around 900 landowners who have given their valuable land to the Jal Shakti Department (erstwhile PHE) for the establishment of water supply schemes in Kashmir have been left in the lurch as a result of the Government’s indecision in granting them promised jobs and compensation.
Several landowners told Excelsior that they donated the land to the department after being promised a permanent job for one of their family members or compensation at market rates. They claimed the department took their land between 1995 and 2021 and gradually took ownership of it.
“Right now, we do not have any land, nor have we received the promised job or compensation,” Bashir Ahmad Wagay, a resident of Khansahab’s Tragekhal area in central Kashmir’s Budgam district, told Excelsior.
In 1970, he donated more than two kanals of land to the department and applied for compensation in 1980, but he has received nothing so far. He said that the department turned down his request last year for flimsy reasons, saying that he must have taken the compensation as many years had passed. He added that he donated another one kanal of land after officials assured him that job would be provided in one case and compensation would be provided in the other.
Bashir Ahmad, another landowner from Kulgam, regrets donating land to the department because the land is located on the Kulgam-Anantnag road and is worth around Rs 1-2 crores. “I donated this piece of land in 1996. Even if all of my family members were given permanent jobs, it would not be enough to cover half the cost of the land,” he said.
The landowners lamented that the department informed them in 2017 that those who donated less than one kanal of land would be compensated, while those who donated more than one kanal would be given jobs. ”So far, no jobs or compensation have been provided,” Javeed Ahmad, a land donor, told Excelsior.
The landowners said that they had raised the issue with every Government in Jammu and Kashmir over the years, but they had only received fake promises. ”Despite acknowledging our contribution to the department, the Government is yet to resolve our issue,” said another landowner, Javeed Ahmad of Budgam.
Chief Engineer Jal Shakti Department, Iftikhar Ahmad told Excelsior that the cases had been forwarded to the Government. “We have already forwarded these cases to the department and are awaiting a response,” he said.
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