JAMMU: Ghulam Nabi Azad, the leader of the Democratic Progressive Azad Party, claimed on Saturday that the eviction campaign to reclaim government property was “illegal” and promised to reinstate the Roshni Scheme if his party wins the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections. Everyone who participated in the conspiracy to usurp substantial portions of land, including government officials, will be prosecuted, he warned. The J&K State Land (Vesting of Ownership to the residents) Act, 2001, commonly known as the Roshni Act, which was to transfer 2.5 lakh acres of land to current residents, was revoked on November 1, 2020, by the administration of the Union Territory.After the Revenue department instructed all deputy commissioners to guarantee the complete removal of encroachments from state land, including the area meant for grazing that was brought under the Roshni Act on 7 January of this year, the government was able to recover more than 10 lakh kanals of land. The Act, also known as the Roshni scheme, originally envisioned granting the residents exclusive rights to around 20.55 lakh kanals (1,02,750 hectares) of land. Only 15.85% of this land had its ownership rights approved for transfer. On November 28, 2018, the plan was officially revoked by the governor at the time, Satya Pal Malik. “Since the eviction drive was illegal, we organised over 85 protests throughout the UT.”Azad informed a group of Gujjars who had joined his party in this location, “When the protests had no effect, I met with the Lt Governor and the Home Minister and raised the issue forcefully.” Community members from the Gujjars met Azad at his home and told him that they were being harassed by government authorities who kept claiming that they were living on forest land and that their homes and businesses would be destroyed. They were led by DPAP leader and JMC corporator Sobat Ali. ”After 1947, people occupied land in the plains for their resettlement,” according to Azad, and everyone in Jammu & Kashmir is dealing with this issue. Governments regularised such colonies in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Kolkata, among other cities.I was in Congress when our government enacted a law giving residents access to forest land, but Article 370 prevented this law from being put into effect in J&K. We made a mistake by not enforcing the law since we believed there would be no eviction drive against them. The forest land statute was automatically extended to J&K when Article 370 was repealed in August 2019, but instead of putting it into practise, the administration launched an illegal eviction drive’,’ Azad claimed. He defended the Roshni programme by saying it was created to help the landless, underprivileged people in the villages as well as legalise the land in the cities to produce income. The J&K cabinet, which is led by me, and the assembly approved the plan. Maharaja (Hari Singh, the final Dogra king), Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah (the NC founder), and afterwards my government all gave land to the landless, he claimed. According to Azad, allegations of wrongdoing by several people, including government and law enforcement officials, have been made. If we are elected, we will reinstate the Roshni plan and open an investigation into the authorities who have been accused of malfeasance, he declared. The DPAP leader later told reporters that he will regularise the daily-wage workers who have been employed by various government agencies for more than two decades.
“I met hundreds of thousands of daily-wage workers. They receive between Rs 5,000 and Rs 9,000 per month and are not regularised. They are married and of legal age to hunt for other employment. They have a right, so that will be my top goal,” he declared.
