SRINAGAR: Various official agencies have demolished 82 concrete structures in and around Sidhra’s Jammu’s satellite town, and claimed retrieving nearly 1000 kanals of land encroached upon by Gujjars. Jammu newspapers reported on Sunday. They said the Gujjars resorted to stone pelting in which 14 cops including a sub-inspector were injured.
The operation was launched jointly by the Jammu Development Authority (JDA), Forests, and the Revenue department. The operation, reports sad, was carried out on the directions of the high court.
The operation led to the decimation of 82 concrete structures including 30 RCC plinths. The alleged encroachers resisted and resorted to stone pelting in which 14 cops including Sub Inspector (SI), Dyal Chand and Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Mumtaz Hussain were injured.
The major part of the demolition squad was operating in Dwara belt which had four bull-dozers with them. Police used tear smoke shells and in certain cases, they had to remove the people physically from some of the structures they were living in. Additional Deputy Commission-er Arun Manhas had a close shave and escaped unhurt, another newspaper reported.
“They were visiting frequently there or keeping their cattle. About 30 plinth and 52 houses/ structures were dismantled during day long operation. The police and administration faced tough resistance and struggling women did not allow them to dismantle about score of the large houses raised on State land. The ADC then directed the Revenue officials to seal these houses if they did not vacate within given time limit,” one newspaper said. “The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had also rapped the JDA for failing to retrieve Rs 147 crore worth prime property, including allotment of Rs 116 crore land to a non-state subject in Jammu, during the last 14 years.”
