The Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh today informed the Legislative Council that so far more than 15000 kanals of land has been retrieved from the encroachers despite tough resistance and JDA is putting every effort to check the encroachments by launching anti-encroachment drives on regular basis.The Deputy Chief Minister was responding to a Calling Attention Notice by legislator Vikram Randhawa to call the attention of government towards the situation that has arisen due to the encroachment of government land adjoining Tawi River aftermath 2014 floods.Dr Singh informed the House that the demarcation of land along river Tawi has not been accomplished while as, some exercise has been done and list of unauthorized occupants along with the details of the land is being compiled, he added.Pertinently, in order to expedite the process of demarcation and identification, the Jammu Development Authority (JDA) has provided 500 boundary pillars to the Revenue and Irrigation & Flood Control departments for fixing boundaries. JDA has to formally receive Revenue records of all adjoining land along the river bank, he added.
He said that in this regard, J&K High Court has appointed two Commissioners to monitor the progress of Revenue, Irrigation & Flood Control Department for checking unauthorized constructions and extraction of mineral material from the river bed.Further, the Deputy Chief Minister said that High Court is also monitoring the development/status on this front through these Commissioners. “Recently the Court has directed the concerned authorities i.e. Divisional Commissioner Jammu, IGP Jammu, DC Jammu and VC JDA to file the status report regarding the identification and demarcation of JDA land. The Divisional Commissioner Jammu has also been nominated as Nodal Officer for the same,” he stated.While adding, he said that the process of mapping and demarcation is being carried out jointly with the Revenue Department.