Jammu, Oct 27: The Department of Wildlife Protection has taken several initiatives to redraw the boundaries of Gharana Wetland in Jammu’s RS Pura Tehsil.
A large chunk of land of this wetland along the Indo-Pak border in RS Pura Tehsil, some 35 kms from Jammu, which hosts between 25000-30000 migratory birds every year in winters from Siberia, China, Mongolia, Siberian Tundra, East Europe and New Zealand, was earlier allegedly encroached upon by the encroachers.
Through a series of drives on the directions of the High Court, the encroached land was retrieved by the District Jammu administration and later a full-fledged plan was readied to give the water body a proper shape.
Wildlife Warden Jammu, Anil Kumar Attri told Rising Kashmir, “the complete land acquisition process for the encroached 408 Kanals of land has been completed and we’re now raising the boundary wall of the wetland along with the construction of approach roads and eco-friendly structures”. The total area of the wetland is 1600 Kanals (80 hectares).
“Work on construction of a sewerage treatment plant (STP) to drive the village waste out of Gharana wetland has also been started. Work on construction of a biogas plant near the wetland is also in the full swing,” said the Wildlife Warden Jammu.
Asked about the redressal of the compensation related grievances of the farmers whose land has been acquired for the project, he said, “district Jammu administration is looking into this”.
A four-member committee/commission of revenue officials led by Rajinder Singh Katoch, Tehsildar (Nazool) Jammu, was earlier constituted on September 2, 2022 for investigation of the land disputes at village Gharana and Gharani in Tehsil Suchetgarh by the District Development Commissioner Jammu on the request of the farmers who claimed that their land has been acquired but not mentioned in the revenue records. The others claimed that the revenue officials entered wrong entries in the revenue records, thus depriving the farmers of their legitimate compensation.
Rajinder Singh Katoch, the chairman of the committee said that field investigation has been already carried out in parts of Gharani village and very soon the investigation of land records shall be carried out in Gharana as well to settle all the claims of the affected farmers.
Thereafter, the Gharana Sarpanch, GS Majotra said that the complete work of redrawing the boundaries of the wetland and its restoration process shall be completed.
Pertinently, various migratory birds including White wagtail, Black-headed ibis, Grey heron, Eurasian spoonbill, Common coot, Little grebe, Mallard, Northern pintail, Painted stork, Greater painted snipe, Northern shoveler, Common teal, Ruff, Bar-headed geese and Siberian cranes and several other birds visit Gharana in winters.
