SRINAGAR: PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti sought Jammu & Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah’s intervention to stop the proposed allotment of fertile agriculture land in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district to BSF, claiming it would deprive people of employment.Mehbooba, who visited Puchal Pulwama and met farmers cultivating the vast tract of land, said fertile land close to an inhabited village was being taken over for a security complex and that it was not the right decision. “For generations, this land has sustained families and placing such a facility so perilously close to homes creates not only serious security concern but also deprives villagers of their only means of livelihood.”She also claimed demolitions had intensified, leaving people vulnerable, since a private member’s bill on land rights moved by PDP legislator Waheed Parra was rejected. The bill had sought to grant ownership rights to residents living in houses built on state land for over 20 years.Parra, the legislator from Pulwama, had described it as an “anti-bulldozer bill” meant to safeguard rights of residents issued eviction notices. The assembly on Oct 28 rejected the bill after Omar said granting ownership of illegally-constructed houses on state land would only reward encroachers.Mehbooba, however, said elected govt had a responsibility to safeguard the rights of people and it shouldn’t divest the public from their rights citing “strategic area” reasons and allot fertile land to forces. “CM should shift the project to barren land, not fields that feed and sustain families,” she said, adding she would take up the issue with the defence minister as well. However, she insisted primary responsibility lay with CM. Jammu & Kashmir govt had not responded to Mehbooba’s statements at the time of filing this report.
