Srinagar- PDP president Mehboba Mufti on Wednesday accused the Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor’s Administration of importing slums and poverty into the erstwhile state under the pretext of providing housing to homeless people, calling it an attempt to change the demography of the union territory.
“The LG made an announcement about giving land to 1.99 lakh landless people in JK. Doubts and concerns have come to the fore as to who these landless people in Jammu and Kashmir are. According to the figures of the central government placed before Parliament, there are only 19,000 homeless families in Jammu and Kashmir,” Mufti told reporters here.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Monday said the Jammu and Kashmir administration has started providing 150 square yard plots to landless families for the construction of their houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY).
“The rural development department has identified 1.83 lakh families who do not have their own houses. We are working on it. It is a step that will not only provide a house to them but transform their lives,” he had said, claiming that plots to 2,711 landless families across the union territory have already been allotted.
Mufti said it seems to be an attempt to change the demography of Jammu and Kashmir in order to increase the BJP vote bank.
“Who are these two lakh families? Even if there are only five persons per family, it accounts for a population of 10 lakh,” she added.
The former chief minister further asked the government why did it not give five ‘marla’ land to Kashmiri Pandits who have been living in Jammu in one-room sets for the past 30 years.
“There are thousands of Kashmiri Pandits living in Jammu. Did you give them 5 marlas? Why not?” she asked.
The PDP president alleged that Jammu and Kashmir and its resources, including land and jobs, were being treaty as a “war booty”.
“Jammu and Kashmir is a green belt, they are turning it into a slum. Instead of improving the place, they are importing slums and poverty. The good thing is that jammu has started realising the dangers of this move. It will run over Jammu before reaching Kashmir,” she said.
Mufti said by bringing in 10 lakh people from other parts of the country into Jammu and Kashmir, the government was trying to provoke the people of the union territory.
“When they bringing 10 lakh people from outside, why do they want to provoke people of Jammu and Kashmir?” she asked.
The PDP president said the people of Jammu and Kashmir should follow in the footsteps of Ladakh by resisting these attempts.
“Ladakh people have been demanding inclusion in the Sixth Schedule for protection of land rights and jobs. I salute the people of Ladakh for deciding to launch non-cooperation movement from July 15 against any investments in tourism. We will support the people of Ladakh,” she said.
Mufti said the various moves taken by the Centre in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 was an attempt to “unpeople” the place.
“What you are doing is an attempt to unpeople Jammu and Kashmir. You are taking back leased property from locals and giving it to outsiders. It is surprising that the day SC decided to hear the petitions challenging the revocation fof Article 370, the next day you come up with this order of landless people. I appeal to the people of Kashmir and Jammu to unite and rise just like the people of Ladakh,” she said.
Govt Rubbishes Mehbooba’s Claim
The Union Territory administration on Wednesday rubbished former Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti’s claim that the recent decision of providing land to homeless families was aimed at bringing in demographic changes in Jammu and Kashmir
In a statement issued hours after Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President’s press conference, the Department of Rural Development & Panchayti Raj rejected the allegations made by Mehbooba and termed her statements factually and without having any understanding of the PMAY scheme
Giving details, an official spokesperson said that PMAY (Grameen) phase -1 started on 1.4.2016 by Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, under the overall commitment of Prime Minister for “Housing for all by 2022”, in which 2,57,349 Houseless cases were identified in J&K in SECC data 2011 and after due verification by Gram sabhas, 136152 cases were sanctioned for J&K,
“Per unit assistance of 1.30 lakhs is provided per house by Govt of India under the scheme. Minimum size of the house prescribed is 1 marla,” he said/
The Government, the spokesperson said, conducted Awaas+ survey during January, 2018 to March, 2019 to identify those beneficiaries which claimed to have been left out under the 2011 SECC.
He said that the data of beneficiaries captured through Awaas+ was utilized to fill the gaps between overall target and eligible beneficiaries made available from SECC Permanent Wait List (PWL)
“PMAY PHASE-II(AWAS Plus) Grameen started from 2019 onwards based on survey of 2018-19, (done pan India), in which 2.65 Lakhs houseless cases were recorded in J&K and only target of 63426 houses was given to J&K. These houses have been sanctioned in 2022 only,” the spokesperson said, adding that this phase of the scheme is getting over on 31.3.24
Based on good performance of J&K in sanction and completion of houses, the spokesperson said on May 30 this year, 199550 more PMAY AWAS PLUS houses have been sanctioned as a special dispensation, in order to ensure housing for all for all 2.65 lakhs houseless persons, who were part of PWL2019.
He further said that survey is based on clear guidelines on the basis of all houseless, those living in zero, one or two room kachha houses, besides multi layered prioritization as defined in section 4 of the scheme guidelines.
He said the guidelines are available at https://rural.nic.in/en/documents/guidelines
“Those houseless persons who don’t have land or clear title of land or have that category of land where construction is not permitted, couldn’t be sanctioned house, even if they are part of this Permanent waiting list,” the spokesperson said, adding that the district wise list of such cases are available with the department and may be accessed.
Based on the field level survey, out of 199550, 2711 cases were identified who don’t have clear title of land and fall in the catagories, including people residing on State land, people residing on Forest land; people residing in Rakhs and Farms land, where construction is not permitted, people sitting on Custodian land; and land allotted to displaced people by Government near Dachigam park for agriculture purpose, where construction is not permitted.
“Any other category of cases who are otherwise eligible for housing but do not have any land available for construction,” the spokesperson said.
He further said that as government cannot sanction house to someone who doesn’t have land, therefore in order to ensure housing for all, government has taken a policy decision to allot 5 marlas of land to these 2711 cases so that they can get houses. This is indicative of Government’s commitment to the poor.
“Therefore statement of Ms. Mufti that government is allotting land to 2 lakh odd persons is factually incorrect and all statements made by her are without having any understanding of the PMAY scheme and Revenue laws of the J&K which permit allotment of land to landless, for housing purposes. So neither any change in the law has been made nor is any outsider being allotted land,” the spokesperson said.
“These 2711 cases are part of the 2018-19 PWL of houseless persons of J&K, who were debarred from having house, just because either they didn’t have land or the land they have is state/forest/any other category of land where construction is not permitted. Data being quoted by her is of Housing & urban affairs, while PMAYG scheme is of Ministry of Rural Development for rural areas of J&K,” he added.
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