DC Jammu 2012 eviction, Girdawari cancellation fail to deter fresh encroachment bid; land allegedly eyed for sale at Rs 25 lakh per marla
JAMMU: Prime Forest land measuring 7 Kanals once reclaimed through official eviction proceedings is allegedly back in the crosshairs of well entrenched land grabbers near K.B Public School adjoining Gujjar Colony at village Sunjawan along the Channi–Narwal Highway.
An investigation by JK Global News has established, through official documents, that the prime parcel falling under Khasra No. 371 belongs to the Forest Department’s Urban Forestry Division.
In the year, 2012, this parcel of land had witnessed eviction proceedings, when the District Magistrate, Jammu, cancelled the illegal Girdawari of occupants,
The Forest Department subsequently evicted the encroachers with police assistance on 9/5/2012 and secured the parcel with barbed-wire fencing
There are reports that the Jammu Municipal Corporation had also planned to develop the land as a green patch for residents of the adjoining colony.
However, cross section of people residing in the nearby Gujjar Colony, Bye Pass told JK Global News that the situation began changing after the National Highways Authority of India initiated highway-widening work.
Individuals claiming association with a Jammu based political party, accompanied by PSOs and persons described as musclemen, began visiting the valuable parcel and start camping at the site in the evening, confiding anonymity avers one senior civil officer who resides in the locality.
According to residents, the land mafia as part of their well known strategy has settled financially distressed tribal family on this land and subsequently projecting its members as legitimate claimants on the strength of disputed documents.
Further probing the matter, JK Global News contacted reliable police sources, who disclosed another startling aspect of the alleged land-grabbing attempt.
Reports suggest that individuals claiming to be power-of-attorney holders are planning to sell the land at Rs 25 lakh per marla, says police sources.
Officers in Urban Forestry Division when contacted while maintaining anonymity confirmed eviction of some families last week who raised temporary structure on the prime land.
Allegations also came flying thick and fast against a Jammu-based politician who has been pointed by residents of the Gujjar Colony for patronising the attempt to gain control of the parcel. A local political figure has separately been accused of targeting Urban Forestry Division officials through wild allegations against them. These claims raise questions about whether pressure is being exerted on officials responsible for protecting the land from land mafia, says an officer of Forest Department.
When the administration has already reclaimed the land once, what explains the renewed attempt to stake a claim and will the law act before prime state land slips into hands of well connected land mafia, questioned an official of Revenue Department.
(To Be Continued)