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Srinagar, Jul 05 : Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday accused the Union Territory administration of bringing the people from outside under the garb of land for landless and home for homeless to change the region’s demography.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, Mehbooba, as per the news agency— (KNO), said that after the abrogation of Article 370, the administration considers the jobs, water resources and land of the people of J&K as “war booty”.
“The administration wants to turn the paradise into a slum,” she said. “In the entire India, Jammu and Kashmir is a green belt, and they want to convert it into a slum. Efforts should have been to make the life of the people of J&K better. By importing investment from outside they are importing poverty and slums in Kashmir.”
Mufti said she is happy that the people of Jammu have raised their voices against it. “The move will open floodgates for the settlement of outsiders and this could be an attempt to alter J&K’s demographic composition,” she said.
“A few days ago, the LG said that under the Prime Minister’s initiative, over 2 lakh landless people in J&K would receive five marlas of land. Since there is no comparable number of landless people in J&K, questions have arisen as to who these individuals are in both the Jammu and Kashmir regions,” she told the reporters.
The former CM alleged, “The factories have already been set up in Jammu by outsiders; even the auto-rickshaw operators and roadside vendors are from outside J&K. Around 10 lakh people will be brought to Jammu and Kashmir in the name of the house for houseless, questioning that why people of J&K are repeatedly being provoked.”
I salute the people of Leh and Ladakh as all their social and religious organisations have announced not to allow ‘outside investment’, she said. Mufti hailed the residents of Leh and Ladakh for pushing for the inclusion of land rights and employment in the Sixth Schedule.
“The people of J&K must follow the example established by Ladakh,” she stressed while expressing admiration for their choice to oppose any outside investments in the tourism industry. She also promised support for the people of Ladakh.
She continued: “I want to tell the government here in J&K that they have made the pressurising environment here. J&K has already been made a jail, now you want to convert it into a slum.”
The people of Jammu and Kashmir jointly will resist this move, she said. “We don’t have enough land, and whatever is left now you are trying to give that to outsiders in the name of the house for the houseless and by this, you think that by bringing 10 lakh people you can increase your vote.”
The PDP chief also questioned the timing of the announcement saying the Supreme Court decided the date for the hearing and the announcement for land allotment came the next day.
“There are apprehensions about the identifications of these landless people. As per the 2011 census by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Department, there were only 19,000 houseless people in J&K,” Mehbooba said.
However Govt. rebutts Mehbooba Mufti’s statement on Wednesday said that no outsider is being allotted the land in Jammu and Kashmir under PMAY (Grameen) scheme and the former chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti has been making statements without having any understanding of the scheme and the Revenue laws of J&K.
In an official communique, the government spokesman said PMAY (Grameen) phase -1 started on 1.4.2016 in which 2,57,349 Houseless cases were identified in J&K in SECC data 2011 and after due verification by Gram sabhas, out of which 136152 cases were sanctioned for J&K under the overall commitment of Prime Minister for “Housing for all by 2022”.
Per unit assistance of 1.30 lakhs is provided per house by Govt of India under the scheme. The minimum size of the house prescribed is 1 marla.
The Government conducted Awaas+ survey during January, 2018 to March, 2019 to identify those beneficiaries which claimed to have been left out under the 2011 SECC. 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.
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, on 30th May2023, 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.
Survey is based on clear guidelines on the basis of all houseless, those living in zero, one or two room kachha houses, Multi layered prioritization as defined in section 4 of the scheme 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.
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 categories 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 the 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,” it said.
As the government cannot sanction the house to someone who doesn’t have land, therefore in order to ensure housing for all, the government has taken a policy decision to allot 5 marlas of land to these 2711 cases so that they can get houses.
Therefore the statement of Mehbooba 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 any outsider is being allotted land.
These 2711 cases are part of the 2018-19 PWL of houseless persons of J&K, who were debarred from having a 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 the Ministry of Rural Development for rural areas of J&K, government spokesman said.
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