Meer Irfan
Anger and frustration are visible on the snow-covered streets of Nagbal Shopian where at least two hundred shopkeepers have shut their shops to demand an immediate rollback of the order calling for the removal of “encroachers” over the state land.
The protest and shutdown in Nagbal Shopian comes a day after the main market in Kellar Shopian observed a shutdown asking the administration to withdraw the order calling for the eviction of “encroachments” over state land.
Watch video
Speaking to The Kashmiriyat, a group of shopkeepers Friday said that the administration has been asking them to vacate their shops allegedly built on the state land or else they will face action.
“We have been forced to keep our shops shut so that the admin pays attention to our demand and revokes the order calling for the freeing of state land. The order will force us into worklessness. Our families will starve. There are at least 300 shops in the Nagbal market of Shopian, all of which are built on state land. The revenue officials (the department conducting anti-encroachment drives on state land) are coming to us every day and asking us to evict our shops,” a local shopkeeper said.
He said that the shops are their only source of livelihood. “We sold our lands after the constant decline in the earnings from our apple and purchased these shops, now the admin is asking us to vacate their shops. How will we sustain our families? How do we earn our livelihood?” they asked.
If the admin does not roll back the order, we might be forced to commit suicide as we have no means of earning left, they told The Kashmiriyat.
Upon being asked that the BJP leaders had assured that poor and small land occupiers will not be harassed they said nobody trusts BJP in Kashmir. “All they do is lie. Though they have been saying all that on the media, but on the ground, common people are suffering endlessly. Nobody is being spared. Not the rich, nor the poor. The officials are coming to us everyday warning us to evict our shops,” they claimed.
They appealed the LG Manoj Sinha led administration to intervene and resolve their genuine issues at the earliest and stop the eviction drives immediately.
Pertinently, the move of the Jammu Kashmir administration to remove “encroachers” from state land has met with protests in Jammu Kashmir.
The eviction order over state land includes the beneficiaries of Jammu Kashmir’s state land law, Roshni Act. The act was declared a scam by the court in 2020.
A total of 6,04,602 Kanal of State land in Jammu and 33,392 kanal in the Kashmir province, was regularised and transferred to people under Roshni the Act.
Read our exclusive coverage on the issue of state land here