Meer Irfan
The residents of Darazpora, Shopian protested against an administration order asking them to leave the land which falls close to industrial area, Lassipora, as the administration intends to handover the land to industrial estates.
The agitated locals alleged that this will snatch employment and their orchards, which are the source of their income since the last two generations.
The locals said that they had worked hard to convert the barren land into orchards by their sweat and blood and now the administration intends to snatch their source of income.
The locals were furious that on one hand the administration was working towards to settling the nomads, the Gujjar- Bakarwal and had also resumed the Forest Act, but on the other hand, the administration was robbing the locals of their income source.
They alleged that it seemed to them that the administration was running anti-Kashmir policies.
They appealed to the Lieutenant Governor and the administration to revoke the orders that intend to snatch their employment.
The Kashmiriyat contacted Assistant Commissioner Revenue (ACR), Shopian Shahnawaz Buda, via phone call regarding the matter. He responded to us by saying that it was “State Land” and that the administration had already allotted the land to the industrial estates, earlier.
The industrial estates, however, did not need the land, then but they communicated with the Revenue Department, Shopian for demarcation, recently, and the department was delivering its job, he said.
When The Kashmiriyat asked the ACR, Shopian about the compensation to the locals, he said that the compensation will be decided by industrial estates and the administration.