Four prime locations in Srinagar are among the six pockets of land in Kashmir that defence ministry officials visited this year as part of ...
Four prime locations in Srinagar are among the six pockets of land in Kashmir that defence ministry officials visited this year as part of their effort to survey and demarcate plot boundaries, official correspondence accessed by Scroll.in shows.
The defence ministry has long claimed ownership over this land which measures over 190 acres, roughly the size of 50 cricket fields. It is described in the correspondence as “densely populated encroached defence land”. However, it has never been in the possession of the defence ministry, one of its officials currently posted in Jammu and Kashmir conceded.
The largest pocket – 126 acres – lies at the base of the Hari Parbat hill in Srinagar’s downtown area. Three other pockets are located in Maisuma, Batamaloo and Pantha Chowk, also in Srinagar. A parcel of about nine acres lies in Awantipora in Pulwama district and another measuring about four acres is in Khanabal in Anantnag district.
Officials of the defence ministry’s estates department visited these areas in February to demarcate the boundaries of the land, but they were unable to do so. “From residential houses and commercial complexes to government offices, all kinds of structures have come up on this land,” the defence ministry official said. “We...
