Jammu & Kashmir

Department of Sheep Husbandry to decline Indian Army’s offer requesting land purchase

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The department has said it has verbally declined the offer and will officially do it on Monday

Srinagar: After the Indian Army wrote to the department of Sheep Husbandry that they are interested in purchasing land which belongs to the state, the department has said it will decline the offer.

Speaking to Free Press Kashmir, Abdul Salam Mir, Director Sheep Husbandry Kashmir said, “we have not officially denied their request yet. We will do it tomorrow. The Army had directly approached. We will deny based on the fact that it is government livestock. It yields us grass of around Rs 20 Lakhs per year.”

Mir also said that the Army had sent the letter 2 days back and he was not in office, so he had not seen it yet.

The letter titled ‘Purchase of Land by Indian Army’ mentioned that troops of a particular unit are stationed on the government land at Kareri High ground near Tapperwari village, and that the army is interested in purchasing this state land.

“It is requested to inform your wish to sell the land to the Indian Army,” the letter reads.

In the letter the army had requested the government to reply by May 30 for the information regarding 129 kanals of land.

The Deputy Commissioner (DC) Baramulla, Dr. GN Itoo had said that he had no knowledge of the existence of such a letter.

Speaking to Free Press Kashmir, he had said, “the DC office did not notice any such letter. However, we will look into it. We can confirm it only after checking the records.”

“We don’t know anything about this. We don’t know who has written the letter and to whom. There is a procedure to acquire land and that has to be followed. Nothing of this sort has come to our notice yet,” he said.

However, Sub-divisional Magistrate (SDM), Pattan, Syed Naseer Ahmad, had told Kashmir Monitor‘s Journalist Firdous Hassan it is a letter of requisition.

“I don’t have any fresh information about the letter. According to the last communication, it is a letter of requisition,” he was quoted as saying.

Speaking to Free Press Kashmir, Rajesh Kalia, Defence PRO had said, “DC baramulla has said he is busy with COVID and will look into it. They had to respond by 30th as per that letter. So, today it should happen. Talk to them and I assure you we will answer all the queries.”

Recently, the government in new Domicile rules of has declared that outsiders who have lived in Jammu and Kashmir for 15 years will be able to get domicile status, which allows them to purchase land in Kashmir.

 

Marouf Gazi is a Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI) 2019 fellow and a senior staffer at Free Press Kashmir.

 

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