Long back the Government felt that the twin capitals of the State are becoming over congested and traffic snarls have become a frequent phenomenon. Streets are narrow and the number of vehicles plying on the streets is increasing each day. Owing to migration of many people from the border areas to the capital cities both Srinagar and Jammu, increase of population has further led to the crowded and congested environs of these two cities. Of course, some steps have been taken over the period of time to ease traffic congestion like building flyovers, widening of road at some places where space is available, regulating traffic and other steps but these have not had the real desired effect.
It was decided that the two cities would be provided with a ring road each, which would essentially reduce the flow of heavy traffic through the heart of the city. In this behalf, surveys were conducted and the blue prints were prepared. But then the big hurdle in the shape of obstructions for land acquisition appeared. True we have the Land Acquisition Act according to which the Government can acquire land for developmental purposes and the owners will be paid compensation for the portion of land acquired. The Government devised the formula of acquiring private land and paying compensation for the same. It also provided that in case the owners of the land were not satisfied with the rate at which the compensation was paid, they had the right to seek justice in a court of law. The ground situation is that this Act has created great difficulty in acquiring the land because of objections of various kinds raised by the land owners and a very large number of cases pending with the courts. The project of constructing Ring Roads has been deferred until the court decision comes. But as we know the courts take their own time to deliver the judgment. In this way the entire project of building the Ring Roads has not taken off so far despite the fact the Union Ministry of Roads and Highways had indicated that it would allot an amount of Rs. 3260 crore under Prime Ministers Development Programme.
Daily Excelsior had touched on this matter in its issue of October 11 stating that the project had got bogged with the land acquisition exercise which the Government should take up on priority basis. We find that the Government has taken note of a matter of public interest. We are informed that the Government has ordered creation of separate task forces for Jammu and Srinagar cities to handle the issue of land acquisition for the two ring roads. Srinagar Ring Road needs to acquire 377 hectares of land and the Jammu Ring Road will have to acquire 330 hectares spread over 52 villages. Rs 1860 crore was earmarked for ring road in Srinagar and Rs 1400 crore for ring road in Jammu.
It is right that two high-powered Task Forces have been constituted and the terms of reference give it wide powers all aimed at speedily finalizing the land acquisition cases. We would suggest that first of all the Task Force must decide the ways and means of getting the court cases cleared in shortest possible time. Court cases are the major hurdle in quick acquisition of land. Secondly, the Task Forces will also have to get into touch with the local village Panchayats/Sarpanch to seek their cooperation in speedy disposal of pending cases in the court of law.
At the same time, the Task Force shall have to coordinate efforts with the Revenue Department. It is found that some of the land needed to be acquired is disputed among various persons who claim its ownership. In some case revenue records are ambiguous or non-satisfactory. This is another reason of long delay in acquisition. Therefore, the Revenue Department will have to be told to decide the ownership of the land as per the revenue records and local evidence. It has also been noticed that some of the land needed to be acquired was actually kahcharai or the state farm land but has been grabbed by land grabbers. This is what the Revenue Department has to clarify.
We welcome the constituting of Task Forces for the two cities and we expect the Task Forces to begin their work without delay. They are enjoined to submit monthly progress report. That is definitely a positive step. It is also advisable that work on building the Ring Road begins simultaneously with efforts to clear the bottlenecks whether in the courts of law or in the revenue department so that the people know that Government is seriously interested in building the ring road.
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