Coming up of unauthorized colonies in the peripheries of main cities is the general scenario we witness today. The state is unable to keep pace with the growing need of citizens for shelter and regular life. Moreover, movement of rural population to urban areas has also contributed to the development of unauthorized colonies. Jammu and Srinagar cities are not an exception. Government authorities are seized of the question of unauthorized colonies and regularizing them under certain criterion. The question of their regularization has come up in the Cabinet meeting on a number of occasions. In one of these cabinet meetings in the year 2012, the Chief Minister issued clear instructions to all concerned departments to address the issue and first provide necessary data to deal with it. In the process a high level committee headed by the Chief Secretary was constituted with the mandate of producing a review of the unauthorized colonies in the two cities and the prospect of regularizing them. It is more than four months that the committee was constituted but it never held any meeting. Obviously, it appears that the matter of regularization of these colonies is not of any serious concern to the committee members. We have a number of schemes for the development of residential colonies, and providing these with infrastructure like roads, water and power supply and civic amenities etc. Last regularization had taken place ten years ago and ever since many more unauthorized colonies have come up. The more disappointing aspect is that the Committee has not taken any step even to collect the necessary data in regard to the unauthorized colonies that would help prepare the ground for their regularization. We often have reports of illegal occupation of government or forest land by the land mafia. Civil society would like to know how some vested interests are allowed to grab the land and getting entries made in revenue records. We have apprehensions that behind the avoidance of their regularization, there could be a big scam at work. It is seen that the Government has not been able to come down with a heavy hand on land mafia in Jammu and Srinagar cities. In order to remove doubts and to help people live a decent urban life, it is necessary that authorization of freshly raised colonies is duly seen through.
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