by Faiqa Masoodi
SRINAGAR: Breaking its age-old dormancy, the Jammu and Kashmir Board is planning to set up as many as 30 Satellite Townships on either side of the upcoming Semi Ring Road around Srinagar, reports appearing in media said. This would require landowners living on the road to offer their land in partnership with private developers to develop it for settlements.
“The project proposes 30 townships from Galander in Pampore to Ganderbal on both sides of the Ring Road,” Jammu newspaper Daily Excelsior reported. “Each township is planned to cover an average area of 200 hectares, requiring a total of 6,000 hectares, equivalent to nearly 1,18,000 kanals, most of which is agricultural land.”
The plans that were revealed recently have triggered serious concerns as the land-scarce Kashmir is getting converted into a concrete conglomerate and tens of thousands of people are expected to lose key land resources and their livelihoods. Revenue authorities have already started locating the land and have initiated the processes. These townships are supposed to be located on either side of the Road at 500 meters.
The details came out recently after a revenue officer in Budgam directed his subordinates to meet and discuss the Board’s plan of developing “an integrated township” along the new road which falls in Srinagar and Budgam districts. The officials invited were from Budgam, Soibugh, and Shoolipora. In quick follow-up, a delegation of farmers from these areas met Divisional Commissioner Kashmir to record their dissent to the plans of converting the agriculture fields into housing colonies.
The road circles Srinagar and is expected to offer connectivity to six districts including Srinagar. It passes through Pampore and Kakpora (Pulwama), Ranbirgarh-Pratapgarh village (Srinagar); Gundi Roshan and Shalibugh (Ganderbal); Mirgund (Baramulla), Sarai Dangerpora (Bandipora) before joining the Srinagar-Leh national highway. In Budgam alone, 17 villages have had an impact while the road was coming up.
“Following the proposal of the divisional administration, Kashmir has announced a ban on the sale of land and construction in the 55 revenue villages of Srinagar, Budgam, Baramulla, Bandiproa, Ganderbal and Pulwama districts,” ETV Bharat reported.
Kashmir Commissioner’s notice was issued under the Jammu and Kashmir Town Planning Act 1963, as early as May 2022. “The government of Jammu and Kashmir intends to prepare the Town Planning Schemes under section (7) of the Jammu and Kashmir Town Planning Act 1963 for orderly and planned development,” the notice read. “Accordingly, a notice under section 10 of the Act is given that no person shall within the area of 500 meters from the boundary of Ring Road erect, or proceed with any building or work or enter into any contract for a period of two years. The government has placed a moratorium on the sale and purchase of the land within 500 meters from the boundary of the ring road.”
As the road started coming up, the revenue officials started working on the housing part of the project in October 2024, when the Board’s collector started seeking details of the land that falls on either side of the road. Details reveal that the project was formally approved by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on March 28, 2022, to prepare “town planning schemes” within 500 meters on both sides of the ring road.
Interestingly, the land required for the satellite townships would be pooled by landowners themselves under JK Land Pooling Policy ’24: Partnering for Progress, a policy approved by LG’s administrative council on July 27, 2024. Aimed to “facilitate planned urban development including infrastructure development, by obtaining land through the voluntary participation of land owners”, The Wire reported that the land could be handed over to private developers. “The landowners would get a share of the land or its equivalent in property after it has been serviced and developed,” the website quoted an unnamed official revealing.
This has started triggering sort of a storm. There are multiple issues linked to it. For farmers, the issue is that once the government takes over the land against compensation, they will have to hunt for their livelihoods. A section of the people, not directly impacted by the land issue, are asking about who will be the residents of these new townships. Politicians on their part are shocked that such a huge prime land parcel is getting converted into housing areas.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also demanded clarity from the Government on the proposed satellite townships along the Srinagar Ring Road, emphasising that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have a right to know who will reside in these townships and their purpose.
PDP chief spokesperson Dr Mehboob Beg showed the revenue orders to the media last week, some of which had been issued as early as July 2024. These pertained to the satellite townships along Phase 1 of the Road, stretching from the Galender (Pampore) to Narbal (Budgam).
Talking to the media, he expressed two concerns – the townships and the depth of restricted land on which construction by owners has been barred. “The government must clarify if these townships are meant for the domiciles of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said. “People deserve to know who will reside in these townships and why construction is restricted.”
He said 1.2 lakh kanals primarily under agriculture and horticulture in a land-deficit region violate the Srinagar Master Plan and the government’s land-use policy. In the next five years, he said, farmers would become landless.
However, the Divisional Commissioner’s notification, according to Daily Excelsior, described the scheme as a “win-win proposition,” where land owners would receive serviced land with enhanced value, while the development agency would control “haphazard fringe” development and promote “planned urban growth.”
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi laying the foundation on May 19, 2018 (during the BJPDP government), the 42.1 km road was to be coming up at an investment of Rs Rs. 939.41 crore (later going up to Rs 2919 crore). An extension of the existing National Highway NH 1A, it is the NHAI implementing it. It required the acquisition of 4730 kanal of agricultural land of which 3661 kanal were in Budgam, 379 kanal in Pulwama, 202 kanal in Srinagar, 176 kanal in Ganderbal, 160 kanal in Bandipora, and 150 kanals in Baramulla. Interestingly, the government did not compensate the landowners as per the national law, The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (RFCTLARR Act), and instead chose an erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state law, Jammu and Kashmir J&K Land Acquisition Act, 1934 (Samvat 1990), which had been removed from the statute books after the abrogation of Article 370.
It has two phases: the 34.72 km 4-lane Galander to Narbal stretch and the 27.2 km 2-lane Narbal to Ganderbal phase. The completed project would have 290 culverts, two road-over bridges, two flyovers, 10 major junctions, 26 minor junctions, and a toll plaza at Narbal junction. As the road is nearing completion, it is the plan of having townships on either side that is now emerging as a new issue.
