According to a belated survey conducted by the Defence Ministry, it is revealed that no less than 730 acres of prime land in the districts of Srinagar and Jammu have been encroached upon and grabbed by the civilians. The cost of this encroached land runs into hundreds of cores. The land grabbers refuse to vacate and in some cases demand compensation for vacating the encroachment. This has mostly happened during the peak years of militancy in Kashmir. Defence forces were busy with countering insurgency and had no time to attend to the interests of the army. Generally, the Army makes an assessment of its requirements like setting up camps, establishing firing practice sites, playgrounds, space for encampment, paring slots etc. and then through formal communication, land is allotted. The army fences it and takes its possession. But since army units were busy in fighting terror in State for many years, the landed property of the army remained unattended. Taking benefit of this situation, locals clandestinely encroached on army land and grabbed the chunks and continue to remain in possession.
But now, the army has taken up the matter officially with the revenue authorities and demanded that illegal encroachment be got vacated. It is reliably learnt that the Government is now seized of the problem and has ordered proper authorities to submit a report on existing encroachments and suggest measure to evict illegal occupation of land that stands allotted to the army. Army is not going to carry the land anywhere; all that it needs is to have space on the ground where it can function and execute its official duty effectively and adequately. We urge the State Government to issue instructions to revenue and other concerned departments to enlist encroachments of army land and take necessary action to get that vaccated at the earliest.
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