SDDT Sagam demands removal of encroachments from religious places

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Aug 31: Sanatan Dharam Devasthan Trust (SDDT) Sagam, Anantnag has accused the Government of its failure in removing encroachments on shrines and temple land belonging to Kashmiri Pandits in the area.

The Trust which held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation emerged from encroachments of land belonging to Hindu religious places in the area said despite the official claims of facilitating the return of migrants and restoring their heritage sites, ground realities reveal that senior administrative bias, unchecked land grabbing still continues and no action is being taken by the administration to restore the same to displaced Pandits.

The meeting said while funds have been officially allocated for the reconstruction of cultural heritage -the infrastructure destroyed by fire, looting and terrorists violence, the actual development remained completely stalled as local land mafia don't allow the construction work and prevent the JCBs, construction machinery and engineering staff from starting construction work and conduct soil testing.

The meeting said the key religious properties continue to be systematically taken over for administrative and public infrastructure projects without community consent. The meeting further said a significant portion of Sadhus Samadhi land has been encroached in 2004 for construction of a hospital building in village Sagam. The remaining sacred land under various Khasra numbers has been simultaneously encroached and a portion of land with Khasra Number 950 has been recently encroached and illegally fenced to merge it with the adjacent burial ground.

The meeting said the land originally belonging to minority Hindus in the village has been encroached for building a Hospital and a Sheep Husbandry office violating the community's religious places rights.

The meeting termed the administration's claims regarding the migrants return only fake and hollow. It said that after repeated reminders regarding removal of encroachments on the Hindu religious places land has failed to yield results. The community has demanded immediate removal of encroachments from the land.

The meeting was attended by M K Pandita, Brij Nath Bhat, Ravinder Pandita, Ashok Kumar Dhar, Ashok Kumar Pandita, Anil Ji Pandita, Omkar Nath, Rattan Lal Raina, Pyaray Lal Pandit, Rattan Lal Bhat, Mohan Lal Bhat and Aswani Bhat among others.