Excelsior Correspondent
REASI, Jan 29: In a significant development, the district administration Reasi took over the possession of more than 400 kanals of land from land owners and handed it over to Housing and Urban Development Department (H&UDD) for creating the much needed new Bus Stand.
The operation was launched by district administration after getting the petitions disposed off by the High Court. In a landmark judgment, the court cleared all objections raised by the local people and instructed the competent authority to issue notice under Section 9 and 9A to acquire the land after conducting its demarcation.
On January 9, the Revenue Department issued notice for acquisition and conducted demarcation of the land in the presence of interested persons. During demarcation, the objections of locals pertaining to measurement, title, quantum of land and draft award were disposed of on the spot.
However, the court has further ordered the Revenue Department to take over the possession of the land from the land owners after paying 80 percent of the compensation. The Deputy Commissioner Prasanna Ramaswamy G constituted a committee led by Collector Land Acquisition (ACR) Harbans Lal to assess the rate of the land as per the market value.
The district administration today after smoothening and marking of the land raised massive boundary wall encircling the acquired land.
It is pertinent to mention here that the process for construction of bus stand at Katra was started in 1998 but delayed for want of land acquisition proceedings and non-cooperation from local people. In 2009, again the proceedings started and this time some parties went to High Court and got the proceedings stayed.
In the court, the case was followed by Revenue Department through its Deputy Advocate General and the Advocate General who appeared personally in the successive hearings on the basis of which the case was disposed off.
The creation of a new bus stand in Katra will go a long way in easing the traffic congestion in the heart of Katra town and provide relief to not only the locals but also lakhs of pilgrims visiting the holy shrine every year.
Among other SDM Neelam Khajuria, Chief Executive Officer Jagdish Mehra, XEn PWD Hem Raj Langeh, Tehsildar Katra Mohit Raina, ASP Naresh and SHO Katra Arvind Sambyal were present during the marking of the land.
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