Srinagar, Jan 21: J&K People’s Conference President Sajad Gani Lone has written a letter to Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha urging him to issue a formal, unambiguous order which spares the poor and makes a distinction between possession borne out of necessity and possession borne out of land grab.
The letter has been written in the backdrop of the statement issued by the Lt Governor regarding circular for eviction of encroached land, wherein Manoj Sinha said that common masses and poor people wouldn’t be touched during the ongoing drive launched by his administration to retrieve state land from encroachers.
Lone in the letter urged the Lieutenant Governor to frame a policy wherein the government defines criteria for identifying the poor and vests them with ownership rights.
He said in the absence of a clear order there are reports of bullying and of course corrupt practices. “May I add that possession without ownership papers has all along been susceptible to blackmailing for decades,” he said. “These poor souls have all along been bullied into paying bribes for not having the ownership papers”.
“I would say history is waiting to be made. Let us hope and pray that you are able to seize the opportunity and make history for the poorest sections of the society. If you do so, it would be distinctively remembered as a historical milestone and a supreme act of statesmanship,” the letter that was made public by the JK People’s Conference.
“There have been voices across the social and political spectrum to spare the poorer sections of the society. We too have tried to raise awareness about the actual composition of the unlawful possession of the state land and unambiguously advocate that the poor should be spared,” the letter reads.
Lone said the possession in the rural areas is borne out of necessity. This is a practice which has gone on unhindered for decades. “And no government ever challenged it because it made J&K a unique state, where there is almost negligible homelessness”.
He said the vast majority of possession in the rural areas comprises of small land holdings, with a small humble house made by the owners. These small holdings are scattered. They will be of no use to the government. But they will make a poor family homeless, Lone said in the letter.
“You have been very gracious in announcing that the poor will not be touched. But in the absence of a formal order, it is the poor who are being touched,” he said.
“I am writing to request you to issue a formal, unambiguous order, which spares the poor and makes a distinction between possession borne out of necessity and possession borne out of land grab,” Lone told the lieutenant governor in the letter.
“You have a chance of a lifetime to end all the blackmailing and give these poorest sections of society a chance to live a life of dignity with no fear of bullying or blackmailing” the people’s Conference chief told Manoj Sinha.
I would strongly advocate that a policy be framed wherein the government defines criteria for identifying the poor and vests them with ownership rights. I would say history is waiting to be made. Let us hope and pray that you are able to seize the opportunity and make history for the poorest sections of the society. If you do so, it would be distinctively remembered as a historical milestone and a supreme act of statesmanship,” he concluded in the letter.
