We’re ready to withdraw let the Govt decide: Gen Gurmeet
Budgam: As mystery surrounds the official stand regarding the extenstion of lease agreement with Army about the ecologically sensitive resort Tosamida, hundreds of people from scores of Budgam hamlets staged demonstration here on Friday. The lease agreement, which expired on Friday, is now a matter of mystery because the authorities refuse to make public what they did about the matter. The protestors demanded the government order to cease the lease not only be implemented in letter and spirit but also to be made public. In Press Enclave Srinagar also the protest was held in this regard.
Eyewitnesses said that people from scores of villages around Tosa Maidan meadow took to streets soon after Friday prayers and staged a protest. They were demanding that Government should made the order public as it is claiming that lease to Army would not be extended. The protesters said that on one hand NC leaders have stated on record that there would be no further extension of the Tosamaidan lease, while on the other it is not implementing the order.
Raising slogans, protesters vowed to intensify the stir if the government fails to issue a written order to cancel the lease.
The people mostly the victims of Army drills also protested at Press Enclave Srinagar and demanded that government should made the proposed order public.
Meanwhile, asserting that the army in Kashmir necessarily requires land resources for training and war drills, General Officer Commanding of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lt Gen Gurmeet Singh Friday said he had already recommended before his headquarters in Delhi that the Tosamaidan firing range should be shifted. “Now it is the responsibility of the government to take a decision in this regard,” Gen Singh said
Gen Singh steered clear of any direct comment saying, “If I will comment beyond this that will create confusion.”
Responding to a query, Gurmeet Singh said that every Kashmiri youth here was not just a Slumdog millionaire but a slumdog trillioner (referring to the Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning bollywood movie Slumdog Millionaire). “Young men here have various talents. These youth were born during turmoil yet they have capabilities and can do wonders,” he said in the interview.
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