Preserve Hokarsar wetland ,don’t harass proprietary landholders: JKAP’s G H Mir tells LG

Srinagar: Apni Party Senior Vice President Ghulam Hassan Mir on Friday called for protection and preservation of Hokarsar wetland but simultaneously urged the wild-life department not to cause any kind of inconvenience to the proprietary land owners in Soibugh and its adjacent areas.
Earlier a delegation comprising of proprietary land owners from Soibugh, Daharmuna, Wadwan, Gotpura and adjacent areas called on Mir at Apni Party Office in Lal Chowk Srinagar wherein they made a representation on their grievances with regard to preservation plan of Hokersar Wetland subject.
The delegation apprised Apni Party Senior Vice President that despite bringing the issue in the notice of wild life department officers they are being unnecessarily harassed and intimidated by the department’s field officials who under the garb of retrieving the wetland area are trying to forcibly evict the genuine owners of the proprietary land from their land holdings.
The delegation also pleaded that a number of poor farmers have been slapped with FIRs by the wildlife department only because they refused to leave their proprietary land. The delegates added that all the aggrieved farmers who are being harassed by the wildlife department have proper revenue records for their land holdings in the Hokersar area.
Assuring the delegation of its full support Apni Party Senior Vice President urged the Lt Governor Manoj Sinha to intervene into the matter on priority so as to redress the grievances of the agitating proprietary land holders in Soibugh and its adjacent hamlets.
Mir also asked the wildlife department to refrain from unnecessary harassment and forcible eviction drive in the area till the grievances of the agitating farmers are redressed.