Monitor News Desk
SRINAGAR: Silencing critics, Jammu and Kashmir government today seized the shopping complex of a top BJP leader in Anantnag.
Tehsildar Srigufwara handed over the shopping complex, built on state land by J&K Vice President BJP Sofi Yousf and his brother Mushtaq Ahmad Sofi, to Rural Development Department (RDD).
However, no shop was sealed, keeping in view the livelihood of families who are earning a livelihood.
Officials said Sofi had encroached 25 marlas of state land at Srigufwara and raised a commercial building. The two-storied commercial building had eleven shops.
Concerned officials visited the spot and took possession of the building. It was later handed it over to the Rural Development Department (RDD) Kashmir for public use.
More than five lakh kanals (20 kanals from one hectare) of government land has been retrieved in Jammu and Kashmir.
On January 9, the government asked all 20 deputy commissioners to launch operation and remove encroachments on state land. The government had set January 31 deadline for retrieving the land.
The government has decided to fence some portion of the retrieved land to prevent encroachments. Unlike past, this time, the government has started the drive from the top. From politicians to bureaucrats and from police officials to businessmen, the bulldozers have been used across the board without any discrimination.
Around 40 kanals of land were retrieved from Nedou’s Hotel. This property belongs to the close kin of former chief minister Farooq Abdullah. A structure owned by National Conference General Secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar’s wife at Airport road was also demolished after it was found to have been constructed on encroached land.
The government also retrieved the state land allegedly occupied by former J&K Congress chief Peerzada Mohammad Syeed, the family of former minister Syed Farooq Andrabi, and the heirs of former chief minister Syed Mir Qasim. The revenue department also demolished the outer wall of orchard land belonging to the family of a deputy inspector general rank officer in the Mattan area.
