Faceoff between SIDCO, Army over Rangreth land continues

By Mudassir Kuloo 

Srinagar, Apr 16: There seems to be no end in dispute between the State Industrial Development Corporation (SIDCO) and Army over the industrial land at Rangreth in Budgam district.

The army has occupied over 60 kanals of industrial land at Rangreth, claiming its ownership.  For the last five years, there has been faceoff between the SIDCO and Army, as the latter has been refusing to evacuate the land.

General Manger SIDCO, Khurshid Ahmed, said that Army was not returning the land to SIDCO.

“Army had said that it will bring its own surveyor. So far they did not conduct the process to evaluate the land. We are pursuing the issue with them,” he said.

Another SIDCO official, who wished not to be named, said that army was “deliberately” delaying the process to vacate the land.

“It is just an excuse on part of the army that they will bring the surveyor,” the official said.

Army PRO, Colonel Rajesh Kalia, said that Defence Estates Office deals with the land issue of the army.

An official of Defence Estates Office, who wished not to be quoted by name, said the land “belongs to the Army”.

“The land was acquired in 2013 by the army through the district administration. The higher authorities could give you further details,” the official said.

The issue started in 2013 with the Rs 14.50 crore Inland Container Depot (ICD) project.

The project was spread over 88 Kanals of SIDCO land, and after its completion in 2014, it was outsourced to a local.

In 2015, the SIDCO official said that the army fenced 23 kanals of the land with barbed wires during a night and “without prior information or permission from the authorities of SIDCO”.

The official said that revenue records reveal that over 60 kanals of land has been occupied by the army.

He said army was not cooperating to resolve the matter.

“Despite several notices sent by the state government, the army has not acknowledged the notices and are not ready to vacate the land,” he said.

In 2015, a senior minister of the PDP was not allowed by the army to go inside the land.

Following which, the minister expressed resentment over the occupation of land by army.

“It is not an Indo-Pak border that they (Army) would erect barbed wire fences,” the minister had said, while directing officials to take immediate steps to retrieve the industrial land from the army.