Department of Revenue is busy in retrieving of the land owned by the Government in the shape of state and kacharia land from encroachers. The department has installed sign boards at the big patches depicting survey number and area of land. This is a kind of information to the people that this land belongs to government and nobody can claim rights on it. These notice boards are being installed on those patches that no doubt have been encroached by different people by installing wooden poles with barbered wire and many kinds of trees have been planted there. These patches can be retrieved easily and the department may not face problems regarding these patches. All tehsils are preparing list of encroachers and the processes of retrieval continues on war footing bases. This is the situation of rural areas. But the situation in urban areas is totally different. State and kacharia land patches are not like in rural areas. In urban areas these patches are mainly under constructions either residential or commercial establishments that too with many stories. To identify these buildings and leaving residential constructions aside and make a proper and fair list of such constructions will be a hectic job for revenue department as it has already busy schedule.
No doubt the main responsibility lies with this department but this department is being assisted by other like departments like Housing and Urban Development, Rural Development Department, Jal Shakti and Flood Control. It is pertinent to mention here that department of Jal Shakti and Flood Control has sufficient manpower of Patwaries and Zildares. The irrigation lands encroached by the people are traceable both in Girdawari records and as well as in maps of irrigation canals. These water bodies have been encroached either in one form or another. In 2014 floods we saw the encroached portions of some water bodies having changed entire valley into a big springs. This department has remained silent for so many years in this regard and these water bodies once called springs look like narrow lanes. Now when the court has intervened in this regard and our government has made clear cut policy regarding this it will be best if these departments shall be made available to help the revenue department in retrieving drives and it should be made possible that these commercial establishments especially in rural areas constructed on these types of land should come under the retrieving process and there should be no interference in this regard from both political and bureaucratic circles. Revenue department has records but rural development department has men and machinery and these two departments in collaboration with irrigation department will make the process result oriented.
(The author is Incharge Record Room at DC Office Anantnag. The views, opinions, facts, assumptions, presumptions and conclusions expressed in this article are author’s own and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
