By Afnan Habib / Two Circles
SRINAGAR (JAMMU & KASHMIR) — Criticising the government for the ongoing anti-encroachment drive to retrieve state land, the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCC&I) today said that the anti-encroachment drive lacks transparency.
KCCI held an urgent press conference today at Srinagar.
Sheikh Ashiq, president of KCC&I, said that a formal order should be issued in this respect so that the public is fully aware of it and that accountability needs to be set in the current anti-encroachment operation.
“After yesterday’s shops’ closures at Aftab Market, we spoke with higher-ups today, and we were given the assurance that no more action affecting people’s ability to support themselves will be done,” Ashiq said.
He said a formal order in this matter is essential to stop the chaos, adding that they are not here to defend the land mafia and those who have seized the land but to ensure that the people’s livelihood is not impacted.
Despite opposition from locals and various political groups, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has intensified its massive land retrieval drive throughout the Union Territory since last week.
Political parties have mounted criticism of the drive and urged authorities that attempts to clear ‘encroachments’ and remove thousands from ‘state land’ will primarily affect low-income families and cause further economic issues.
Authorities moved into overdrive on Tuesday, a day after the culmination of the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Srinagar, to reclaim government land encroached upon by influential people, demolishing the exteriors of homes owned by a former minister, the family of a top police officer, and a businessman.
A crew from the revenue department demolished the boundary wall and a security bunker of the home of former minister and Congress leader Peerzada Mohammad Sayyed in the Dahmal Khoshipora region of south Kashmir.
The revenue department also demolished the exterior wall of an orchard field owned by the family of a deputy inspector general of police rank officer in the Mattan neighbourhood of Anantnag, officials said.
Authorities on Wednesday also sealed more than 20 shops at Aftab Market in the Lal Chowk area of Srinagar, alleging that the land was being occupied illegally.
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