Govt for action against encroachment on saffron fields

Tribune News Service & PTI

Srinagar, March 10

Taking a serious note of illegal constructions and encroachments on saffron fields, the authorities here have ordered immediate legal action against violators.

Various places in 27 villages of the Pampore area, saffron producing bowl in Pulwama district near here, have been affected by encroachments with the illegal constructions on the agricultural land.

This information was given at a meeting held by the Divisional commissioner, Kashmir, Asgar H Samoon here yesterday in which he directed the authorities concerned to take necessary steps to curb illegal constructions immediately and initiate legal action against violators. 

He also constituted a committee to look into the illegal constructions and asked it to report to him on a weekly basis, an official spokesman said here. He said Samoon passed the directions while chairing a high-level meeting regarding the illegal constructions on saffron fields.

The committee comprises Deputy Commissioner Pulwama, Joint Director Agriculture and tehsildars concerned. The Divisional Commissioner was informed that encroachers had occupied various places in 27 villages of Pampore, a saffron-rich plateau in south Kashmir, the spokesman said. Samoon directed the authorities concerned to take necessary steps to stop illegal constructions immediately and initiate legal action against the offenders. The spokesman said the National Saffron Mission (NSM) project was also thoroughly discussed during the meeting. Last year, the Centre extended by two more years the Rs 371-crore National Saffron Mission, launched in 2010, to rejuvenate saffron cultivation in the Valley. Following the devastating floods in September 2014, the state government had requested the Centre to grant a two-year extension to complete the project in view of huge crop loss due to the deluge. Almost 90 per cent of saffron production of Kashmir comes from Pampore, 16 kms from Srinagar.