Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Jan 3: A major attempt has been made by some influential land mafia men to grab over 1500 kanal of prime Government land, including some area of Forest Department near Bajalta Railway Station in Sidhra area of Jammu district under the `nose’ of Revenue and Forest authorities.
While the District Revenue and Forest authorities claimed to have stalled the levelling work at the site being initiated with the help of JCBs and other machines by some people behind the land encroachment, the sources said that the land- mafia men were still active and planning to raise a colony at the site with the internal support of a few politicians.
Initially, they felled trees in a planned manner from the area to be occupied during past several months and gradually, they started work from the bank of a nallah just adjacent to Compartment Nos. 61 and 62 of the Bahu Forest Range.
Then they continued spreading their area of operation and covered over 1500 kanal of land, `Malik Sarkar’ (Revenue and Forest land) just near Bajalta Railway Station. The Forest and Revenue officials concerned initially remained silent over the issue despite the fact that many locals raised the matter. They contacted the Divisional Commissioner Jammu who asked the Deputy Commissioner Jammu and to the senior Forest officials to look into the matter and take cognizance of the matter.
DFO Jammu, Dr V Senthil Kumar when contacted said that he himself along with DFO Demarcation and other Forest staff went to the site on December 28 after the matter came to their notice. He claimed that the work at the site has been stopped. The DFO said that they had also written to the DC Jammu and sought status report to ascertain how much Revenue/ Forest Department land was involved. He said that across nallah, the boundary pillars of Forest Department were intact.
Tehsildar, Naib Tehsildar, Girdawar and Patwari had also gone there. There is some area which is ‘Gair Mumkan Khud and Gair Mumkan Jad’. The Forest record was also taken along. As per preliminary inquiry by field staff, it seems that no Forest land was involved. Majority of the land encroached upon there is ‘Malik Sarkar’ (State Land). There may be some portion of private land but it is clear that apparently over 800 kanal of land has been taken over by them.
A senior officer from the District Administration without being quoted said that a major attempt has been made by some land- mafia people to grab this prime land near Railway Station at Bajalta. It is now an open secret and some senior officers discussed the issue during a meeting at Civil Secretariat here on Thursday. Some top Forest officers also attended it. He said the issue was in the notice of Deputy Commissioner, the Divisional Commissioner and even the Minister concerned and work at the site has now been stalled.
Responding to a question, he disclosed that as per inputs from field Revenue staff, few local influential persons are directly involved and the Government is going to take appropriate action in this regard. Though he also identified the land grabbers but avoided to divulge the names of the politicians behind raising this illegal colony on Government land.
He also claimed that it was not easy to demarcate such a vast area in one or two days, the procedure may take some more time. It is being ascertained that how much total land was involved and Government will go for fencing and if needed, force will also be used to get the land vacated. Interestingly, neither machinery has been seized nor police/ FPF picket raised there to protect the Government land.
Minister for Forests, Mian Altaf when contacted said that since long no Forest land was allowed to be grabbed, especially in district Jammu by the department. He said the matter regarding Bajalta land case was not to his knowledge. Mr Altaf said that he would get inputs from his officers and also hold inquiry into the matter. He, however, maintained that Forest land will not be allowed to be encroached upon and if any body indulges in any such act, it will be got vacated.
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