Leased land retrieval may even cost CM his house: Mehbooba

Srinagar, Oct 10: Asserting that the National Conference (NC) government should make concrete efforts to table a Bill in the Assembly that safeguards land rights, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) President and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday said the severity of leased land or government land being “retrieved” was to an extent that even a high-profile area such as Gupkar Road becomes “vulnerable”.

“What will Omar Sahab do once he is informed that the lease has expired? Would he just leave the house? No, he won’t. The way Omar Sahab has a house, poor people also have their homes, and hoteliers have their hard-earned properties. The government should introduce a bill to help people secure their lands for which the PDP will support them with whatever strength we have,” Mehbooba said.

She said it was logical to wait for the restoration of statehood and was hopeful that the Supreme Court would bring the pleas for statehood to a “good conclusion”.

However, the PDP chief said the J&K government must act fast to take legislative steps to ensure people get the right to their land.

“If they don’t like our bill, let them bring their own or otherwise pass our bill so that people can take a sigh of relief. How can our hoteliers compete with Adani, Ambani, or Jindal? So, we need to protect this sector as well,” Mehbooba said.

Responding to criticism from Leader of Opposition (LoP) in J&K legislature, Sunil Sharma that PDP was “doing political gimmickry to stay relevant,” she said, “The anti-bulldozer bill is being introduced by PDP to safeguard the interests of people of J&K, who have build houses on small parcels of land measuring no more than 5 or 8 marlas, or a made shop, or cowshed. A way has to be found for how to regularise these structures.”

The former chief minister said that the lease of hoteliers being withdrawn “to accommodate” outsiders was also being opposed in the bill.

“These are the hoteliers who have worked for decades to boost the tourism sector in Kashmir. It is our duty to safeguard their interests,” she said.

Responding to a swipe by the LoP over PDP’s soon-to-be-introduced Land Grants (Restoration and Protection) Bill, Mehbooba said, “This is not the land of bulldozer baba that you will go berserk razing houses and other important structures with which people have an emotional attachment. We have an elected government here, and since 2019, people have become cautious about the exclusivity of jobs and land to local inhabitants and natural resources.”

She said the bill was an effort of the PDP to work in people’s interest.

“Even the government should introduce a similar bill,” the PDP president said. “It is not correct on the part of the government to beat around the bush when it comes to introducing a Private Members’ Bill. Till the time we don’t have statehood back, we must ensure to safeguard whatever we can so that people can heave a sigh of relief.”

She said that thousands of kanal of land had been allotted to people from outside J&K while ignoring the local population.

“Only 50 percent of this land was given to locals. And how much of that land given to the outsiders was used to set up an industry isn’t even a minuscule number,” Mehbooba said. “Despite making claims of normalcy, security forces are provided with land with ease. With just a mention of a strategic area, security forces are handed over land without any hesitation. Not even NoC is needed, nor is any administrative clearance required. Now even our playgrounds are being taken over,” she said.

The former chief minister welcomed the peace treaty between Israel and Palestine.

“This peace deal is a reply to those people who feel that issues can be solved with the help of guns and bloodshed,” she said. “It is important to hold a dialogue across the table.”