Ready to vacate land in state: Army

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 4

In a significant development, the Army today said it was ready to vacate certain pockets of land under its possession in different parts of the state in compliance with the decisions taken in the Civil Military Liaison Conference (CMLC) meetings.

The Army’s statement has come two days after Governor NN Vohra, while holding discussions on the internal security situation and vacation of lands by the Army, decided to hold a meeting shortly “to review the return of certain pockets of lands held by the Army, as agreed to in the Army-Civil Co-ordination Committee”.

It was seen as a strong indication to political groups to form an elected government in Jammu and Kashmir which is under Governor’s rule at present.

The vacation of land by the Army, inter alia, is one of the major demands raised by the Peoples Democratic Party.

Clearing its position on land issues, a statement issued by media cell of the Army’s 15 Corps ‘Chinar Media Heart’ said, “It is committed to meeting all mutually agreed decisions arising not only out of CMLC-2015 (held on September 29, 2015) but of all previous such CMLC meetings.”

“In the past, the Army has handed over ‘A1 Defence Land’ at Batmaloo, Pantha Chowk, Hari Parbat, etc, which were essential to develop civil amenities for the people of Shahar-e-Khas

. It has also provided timely ‘NOC’ to infrastructure development projects like Haft Chinar flyover, roads construction under the NHAI, BEACON and PMGSY especially in border areas,” read the statement.

It said that while it had been agreed in principle to exchange Tattoo Ground land in Srinagar for alternative land, in the interim a Citizen Park is under construction for the ‘awaam’ — “a proactive step taken by the Army which has no precedence”.

The Army had also committed to providing land for expansion of Jammu University and vacating land in its possession in Anantnag for establishment of South Campus of Kashmir University. It had also agreed to vacate Lower Plateau at Kargil on the request of the administration, the statement added.

The statement, however, said the genuine needs of the Army in terms of regularisation of land under occupation and alternative land in lieu of the land being vacated were also discussed in the CMLC, which were to be looked into by the state administration.

Pertinently, the Agenda of the Alliance, the framework for governance of the previous PDP-BJP government, had categorically said, “All lands other than those given to the security forces on the basis of lease, licences and acquisition under the provision of the Land Acquisition Act shall be returned to the rightful legal owners, except in a situation where retaining the lands is absolutely imperative in view of a specific security requirement. In any case, monetary remuneration, be it in the form of rents or compensation should be made fairly at market rates”.