Locals aghast as Wildlife deptt ‘grabs’ agrarian land in Budgam
Budgam : Scores of villagers from Central Kashmir’s Budgam district are up in arms against the Wildlife department, accusing the department of grabbing their agrarian land illegally.
According to Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the residents of Daharmuna, Soibugh, Gotpora and other adjacent areas here have alleged that the wild life department has grabbed their land without taking their consent.
“We want to ask the authorities how our land has been grabbed without any demarcation,” the residents alleged.
Ghulam Nabi Ganie, one of the residents of Daharmuna Budgam said that the land is located near the Hokersar Lake, which falls under the jurisdiction of the wildlife department due to which it has grabbed their land illegally.
However, the revenue department officials stated that the land is the property of locals as per the documents. Muhammad Sultan, Patwari of the concerned area told KNO that the land is property of farmers and does not belong to wildlife department.
Nonetheless, the Forest Officer Narbal, Suhil Qazi said that the land was demarcated in 2018 having signatures of 14 Patwaris who carried out a survey of the land.
The locals meanwhile urged the concerned authorities to look into the matter and ensure their land is returned to them at an earliest so that they could heave a sigh of relief. (KNO)
Kashmir Images is an English language daily newspaper published from Srinagar (J&K), India. The newspaper is one of the largest circulated English dailies of Kashmir and its hard copies reach every nook and corner of Kashmir Valley besides Jammu and Ladakh region.
