Jammu(Jammu and Kashmir): More than 1400 kanals of land belonging to the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board has been encroached in Jammu region with over 600 kanals of land grabbed in Jammu district alone, a RTI application has revealed.
In reply to the RTI application filed by social activist MM Shuja under the RTI Act 2005 on 22 July, a copy of which lies with ETV Bharat, the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board has revealed that more than 1400 Kanals of Waqf land have been encroached by the people in the Jammu region.
The Waqf land has been encroached in different parts of the Jammu region including Bishnah, Akhnoor, RS Pura, Gandhi Nagar, Digiana, Bathindi and Sunjwan, the RTI revealed.
In Jammu district in particular, nearly 616 kanals of Waqf land have been encroached upon including 729 kanals in Bishnah, 105 kanals in Akhnoor, and 8 kanals of land in RS Pura by Pakistani Refugees known as POJK refugees.
The RTI revealed that the encroachers constructed shops and houses on the encroached land of Waqf while some are using it for agricultural purposes.
As per the data the land of Jammu Kashmir Muslim Waqf Board has been encroached by non-Muslim organizations by constructing places of worship in Chand Nagar area of Jammu under khasra number 630 and locals at Gool Gujral have created a ‘Shamshan Ghat’ (cremation ground) and pathways on 17 kanals of encroached land.
The massive encroachment of the Waqf land has put the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board in the dock with stakeholders raising questions over the functioning of the board.
Former IAS officer Khalid Hussain, who has been a Waqf Administrator questioned the government's inaction over such a massive scale of encroachment while demanding action to vacate the encroachment of shrines, mosques and graveyards and thus restore their sanctity.
Hussain urged the present government led by lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha to take action against encroachers “like they are doing with others” while referring to the UT government's anti-encroachment drive launched at the start of this year.
Hussain said that Muslims in Jammu “lack a political voice which is the main reason that Jammu Waqf land is easily encroached by people”.
Social activist MM SHUJA who filled the RTI application too appealed the Jammu and Kashmir government to take action against the land encroachers. He further said that the politicians in past who were in power did not bother to retrieve the Muslim Waqf Board land in Jammu he said was unfortunate.
ETV Bharat tried to contact Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Chairperson, Darakhshan Andrabi for her comments over the matter, but she did not respond to repeated calls by this reporter.
