JDA in slumber as Gujjars encroach 300 kanals of land at Gole Gujral

Nitesh Sangral
JAMMU, April 15: Even after three year long efforts, Jammu Development Authority (JDA) has still failed to evict the encroachers from nearly 200 kanals of land at Gole Gujral, which was meant for the construction of colony for the poor. Sources said that due to the political pressure on the officials to go slow on the eviction process, has crashed the dream of hundreds of people to have their own houses. It is pertinent to mention here that under the centrally sponsored Valmikis-Ambedkar Awas Yojna (VAMBAY), in 2007 government had identified nearly 400 kanals of land in the area for the construction of 300 low cost homes for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), but the project has almost been shelved as the encroachers have taken over the land, under the very nose of the administration. If sources are to be believed these families mostly belonging to Gujjar community have been made ‘proxy’ by the land mafia to grab the government land and they are using every effort to foil the attempts of the authorities to clear the area. “To some extent, plan has almost been shelved by the authority”, he said. When contacted Vice-Chairman JDA Vinod Sharma said, “We are trying our best to convince them to leave so that the work on the colony could start, things will get cleared in next few months”. Sources said that recently authorities had assured the people putting up there that 3 marlas of land will be provided to them if they leave the area, but most of them have not shown interest in the offer. However a senior official said that, ‘go slow policy’ has been adopted following pressure from some quarters to leave the plan for sometimes keeping in view its political ramifications. “In the past attempts made by the administration to evict the encroachers have met with resistance and with the active support of the mafia, they make it a community specific issue, which has wider political consequence”, said a official on condition of anonymity. It is pertinent to mention here that since the project was taken up, the site has remained in dispute. Earlier Revenue department had claimed it belongs to it, but later after the intervention of the government it was transferred to the authority.