By Jehangir Ali
Wathora (Budgam, Kashmir): Ghulam Mohammad Bhat reluctantly surrendered nearly four kanal land to the Jammu and Kashmir government in 2017 to pave the way for the construction of the Srinagar ring road, a new four-lane highway around J&K’s summer capital.
Hailing from the rural belt of Wathora in central Kashmir’s Budgam district, some 14 kms from Srinagar, Bhat had hoped that the new highway would be laden with better economic opportunities.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the project in 2018 when the People’s Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance was in power in J&K. The project is being executed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
Nearly 600 acres of prime agricultural land with islands of human habitation were acquired by the government for the highway in 2017, with the stated purpose of addressing the crisis of “urban sprawl” in Srinagar.
Although the land transfer agreement allegedly lapsed in 2019, authorities compensated Bhat and other farmers in 2021 as per the Jammu and Kashmir Land Acquisition Act of 1934, an archaic land law which was applicable to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The work on the highway started in 2022.
Even though agriculture is the mainstay of J&K’s economy, the highway was carved through agricultural land and orchards in Ganderbal, Pulwama, Bandipora, Baramulla and Budgam districts of Kashmir besides Srinagar, despite local resentment.
In one fell swoop, thousands of fruit trees were felled.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
