14 lakh kanals of state land encroached in Jammu, 3 lakh in Kashmir: Official data
According to official figures, a total of around 17,27,247 kanals of encroached state land entries have been deleted from revenue records in Jammu and Kashmir.
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In total, the Jammu division recorded 14,00,051 kanals and five marlas, the entries of which were deleted from the revenue records, while the Kashmir division recorded 3,27,199 kanals.
The data revealed severe regional disparities, with seven districts of Jammu division recording more than one lakh kanals of encroached state land each, while two districts – Rajouri and Reasi – crossed the two lakh kanal mark.
In contrast, no rape exceeding one lakh kanals was recorded in any of the 10 districts of Kashmir division. It was said that only Baramulla and Kupwara crossed the 50,000 kanal mark in the valley
The figures also showed that the twin capital districts of Jammu and Srinagar recorded huge disparities in encroached state territory.
While Jammu district had 1,45,487 kanals and six marlas of occupied land, Srinagar recorded 13,862.95 kanals; This shows that Jammu region alone has ten times more encroached state land than Srinagar.
Rajouri district has emerged as the worst-hit district in Jammu and Kashmir in terms of encroachment on state land, with 2.73 lakh kanals under illegal occupation by land grabbers, as per official data.
Rajouri topped the list with 2,73,848 kanals and 12 marlas, followed by Reasi with 2,26,857 kanals and 6 marlas and Ramban with 1,73,832 kanals. While Jammu district recorded encroached land of 1,45,487 kanals and six marlas, Kathua accounted for 1,30,403 kanals and 1.5 marlas.
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According to the data, Udhampur and Poonch have also crossed the one lakh kanal mark with 1,19,822 kanals and eight marla and 1,11,133 kanals and 16 marla respectively.
Doda recorded 91,957 kanals and five marlas as encroached land, followed by Samba district covering 74,196 kanals and three marlas, while Kishtwar recorded 52,513 kanals and 7.5 marlas respectively.
The data revealed that in Kashmir division, Baramulla recorded the highest occupied land with 81,327.65 kanals, followed by Samba with 74,196 kanals and three marlas, Kupwara with 52,698.1 kanals and Kishtwar with 52,513 kanals and 7.5 marlas in Jammu division.
It was stated that Pulwama recorded 42,730.8 kanals of encroached land, followed by Anantnag with 36,984 kanals, Budgam with 21,775.55 kanals and Bandipora with 20,925.65 kanals.
The data also showed that Shopian recorded 19,034.85 kanals, Ganderbal 19,005.2 kanals, Kulgam 18,853.75 kanals and Srinagar recorded 13,862.95 kanals of deleted rape entries.
The figures were released in response to a query from the state and central governments seeking detailed information on JDA lands currently under encroachment and the steps taken to reclaim and regularize these lands.
Authorities have cleared illegal records of encroachers of encroached state government lands in Rajouri, Reasi, Ramban, Jammu, Kathua, Udhampur, Poonch, Doda, Baramulla, Samba, Kupwara, Kishtwar, Pulwama, Anantnag, Budgam, Bandipora, Shopian, Ganderbal, Kulgam and Srinagar districts.
