The district administration of Srinagar launched a massive anti-encroachment campaign across the district on Saturday. As a result, 409 kanal of State land worth more than Rs 240.58 crore were reclaimed from “powerful land grabbers.”
According to officials, the anti-encroachment operation was started in all 7 tehsils of the district, including the tehsils of Chanapora, Pantha Chowk, Khanyar, Eidgah, and north and south Srinagar. They claimed that with the assistance of the Police and other relevant departments, the special anti-encroachment squads organized by the Srinagar district administration and led by respective tehsildars carried out large-scale anti-encroachment drives.
According to officials, a group of Revenue, Police, and officials led by Tehsildar North Srinagar Kaiser Mehmood launched a massive anti-encroachment drive in the villages of Dara and Danihama and recovered 12 kanal of State and Kacharie land worth Rs 3.60 crore from the alleged land squatters.
They claimed that the anti-encroachment team also recovered 35 kanal of land, including a hotel valued at Rs 35 crore, in the tehsil’s Ahal village.
Officials reported that Rakib Ahmad’s 77 kanal of Kacharie land, valued at over Rs 33 crore, was retrieved as part of a significant anti-encroachment campaign launched at Balhama Village under the supervision of Tehsildar Pantha Chowk.
They claimed that a revenue team led by Tehsildar Ishfaq Ahmad Khan recovered 101 kanals and 17 marlas of state land worth Rs 40.74 crore from the alleged illegal occupants in the Eidgah tehsil’s Kreshibal and Anchar villages.
According to officials, a team led by Tehsildar Moean Azhar in Srinagar’s south tehsil carried out a significant anti-encroachment drive in KP Bagh and reclaimed 40 kanals and 17 marlas of Kacharie land worth Rs 51 crore from the alleged encroachers.
They said that in Khushipora and Rampura villages of central Shalteng tehsil 21 kanal of Kahcharie land worth Rs 16 crore has been evicted from the alleged land grabbers including a commercial complex.
They claimed that the LG administration had made it clear that the poor and general populace would not be impacted by the ongoing anti-encroachment campaign that was launched to reclaim State property from the intruders.
According to the officials, the LG administration had also stated that only those who had forcibly occupied State land by using their positions would be dealt with harshly because the government was concerned about protecting the interests of the poor.
They claimed that the government had reiterated that the reclaimed land would only be used for important public projects and programmes.