The Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor’s (L-G) administration on Thursday termed the allegations of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti that the government was using the ’land to the landless’ scheme to settle outsiders “factually incorrect”. In reply, the PDP said the questions raised “remain unanswered” in the official clarification.
“The statement of Ms. Mehbooba Mufti that the government is allotting land to two lakh odd persons is factually incorrect and all statements made by her are without having any understanding of the PMAY scheme,” an official spokesman said.
The spokesman said the PMAY-Grameen Phase -1 was started in 2016 by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, for “Housing for all by 2022”. He said 2,57,349 houseless cases were identified in J&K in the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) data 2011.
The official said the survey was based on clear guidelines, which include the criteria of homeless; living in zero, one or two-room kachha houses; homeless persons who don’t have land or clear title of the 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 1,99,550 cases, 2,711 cases were identified who don’t have clear title of land and fall into following categories of those 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,” it said.
The official said the government has taken a policy decision to allot five marlas of land to these 2,711 cases so that they can get houses and “was indicative of the government’s commitment to the poor”.
Meanwhile, the fresh official clarification has dropped the lines on the issue of outsiders being allotted land. Earlier, the official clarification had said: “Neither any change in the law has been made nor any outsider is being allotted land”.
Clarification sought
Meanwhile, the PDP, in response to the official clarification, said the main question of a sharp jump in the numbers of homeless ‘people’ from 1947 in 2021 to nearly two lakh ‘households’ remains unaddressed.
The PDP also sought a detailed clarification on the process of identification of beneficiaries.
“The PMAY has been in operation for decades in the State under different titles and a procedure has been in place which was always monitored by the Government of India itself from identification to the execution levels. The assistance would be given generally to the poorest landholders and in case of people without land, there was a process in place to allot them land out of the community lands like kahcharai, State land, khalisa etc.,” the PDP said.
The claim that two lakh identified households still remain homeless “raises doubts about the sharp increase”. “Either the exercise is flawed or the intentions are suspect,” it said.
The PDP said the latest announcement made at the highest level comes close on the heels of the allotment of tenements to non-local workers in Jammu. “Does any State in the country reciprocate this for thousands of workers, hawkers, small vendors who move to plains during winters?” the PDP said.
More voices
Besides Ms. Mufti, there is a growing demand from other political parties too to clarify who is being provided land and if the list comprises those homeless people living in J&K after the abrogation of provisions of Article 370 in 2019.
“The government should first clear the doubts. Who are homeless? How are they categorised? Those who came here after Article 370’s [reading down] should not be included. We know the government has brought a huge number of outsiders in J&K after August 2019,” National Conference vice-president and former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said.
Seeking a clarification from the L-G administration, Peoples Conference chairman Sajad Lone said, “Now that questions are being raised, it will be prudent for the state administration to make it clear whether providing land to the landless and homeless comprises only the erstwhile domicile holders (from) pre-5 August 2019 [period].”
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Ahmad Mir asked the L-G administration “to come out clean on the issue”. “The move is being considered another assault on J&K after downgrading it into two UTs. The government should act in a responsible manner and explain as to who are the home families and how they have been categorised. The aspirations of the people must be taken into consideration before moving ahead on this count,” Mr. Mir said.
He said this policy has made people more restless. “There will be no compromises on the rights and aspirations of people in J&K, who are the victims of BJP’s vindictive policies,” Mr. Mir added.
