Encroached state land worth crores retrieved in district Poonch: Govt

Poonch: In a major push to the ongoing anti-encroachment drive, District administration Poonch, with the assistance of Police has retrieved a huge chunk of land including commercial land worth crores of rupees which was under illegal occupation of Land Mafia and big businessman including Ex MLA.

The land retrieved includes some land parcels(both state land and Kahcharai land) having high market value encroached upon by a group of influential people, giving a strong message that “no one is above Law” and whosoever has encroached the state land will be evicted.

During the eviction drive against 125030 kanal encroached land, 122277 kanal and 8 Marlas have been retrieved till date.

Similarly, out of total encroached 8530.16 Kanal of kahcharai land, 8391 kanal has also been retrieved in different parts of the district.

As per the Revenue Department the eviction drive is on in full pace and the target of 100% retrieval of encroached land will be restored soon.

Staggering 97.8% of state land has been made encroachment free and around 98.38% kahcharai land has been made encroachment free till date

 The Deputy Commissioner Poonch has given clear cut instructions to revenue authorities to remove encroachments under the principle of Non-discrimination and Uniformity.

In the last one week, 7 kanal high value state-land worth Rs.1.80 crores was retrieved near mini secretariat Mendhar. Likewise, 75 Kanals abi-land and 171 Kanal of state land were retrieved from different encroachers worth Rs 2.5 crore. Another parcel of 207 kanal of land retrieved from different encroachers at Mendhar amounting to Rs. 1.30 crore. In Tehsil Mandi, 370 Kanal of land was retrieved, including 12 kanal in the Loran market, worth Rs 50 lakh.

Around 75 kanal Land worth Rs 1.87 crore encroached by an Ex MLA has also been retrieved in Lassana.

In tehsil Surankote, state land on which a private school building was constructed has been retrieved worth Rs 80 lakh.

Revenue authorities retrieved around 100% encroached state and Kahcharai land in Balalote and Mankote tehsils.

Deputy Commissioner Poonch has directed the revenue authorities to adopt due diligence with the ongoing eviction process. He also requested General public to cooperate with the authorities so that the process can be completed smoothly