Jammu: The Pakistan occupied Kashmir displaced persons of 1947, who were highlighted as one of the key communities to benefit from withdrawal of special status of Jammu and Kashmir, are also hit by the ongoing eviction and demolition drives by Revenue Department.
Since August 2019, the Center and the BJP, as also allied media persons, have been flagging alleged discrimination against West Pakistan refugees and PoK displaced persons of 1947 as one of the reasons why the Article 370 should have been abrogated.
Now hit by the ongoing eviction drive of Revenue Department, the community leaders have made an appeal to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha for his intervention.
The Jammu Kashmir Sharnarthi Action Committee (JKSAC), one of the representative bodies of the PoK displaced persons, has urged the Lieutenant Governor to save the community members from evictions.
While addressing a meeting held at village Kotli Mirdian in RS Pura, Gurdev Singh, president of JKSAC along with Dwarka Nath Khajuria, Tarlok Singh Tara and Rajesh Khajuria drawn the attention of Lt Governor towards the eviction drive of state lands where under people having small land holdings/marginalised farmers are being harassed by Revenue officials. As reported to JKSAC by DPs residing in far-flung areas of various tehsils particularly Poonch that they are being harassed by some Revenue officials and even some of them have been served notices to vacate the meagre Government lands allotted to them for their sustenance under the Rehabilitation Policy.
He apprised the participants that DPs of 1947 from PoK was allotted evacuee lands as well as state land under the rehabilitation policy. The proprietary rights were also been given to most of DPs families over the state lands as per order number 254-C of 1965 and occupancy tenancy rights were given to DPs over evacuee lands as per section 3-A of Agrarian Reform Act 1976. He said that hundreds of DPs families having deficiencies in lands across the Jammu region were handed over small pieces of state lands to cope up their deficiencies, with the assurance that allotment orders will be issued shortly.
Singh regretted that despite of taking this issue consistently with Revenue authorities the allotment orders were not issued to such families till date even knowing that the DPs are cultivating such state lands from the last several decades. It is unfortunate that Patwari and Tehsildhars of some areas are harassing the DPs and other poor people through eviction notices.
He said that if they are not stopped from doing so then the eviction of such DPs families from their lands would result into loss of their livelihood and starvation of their children. He appealed to Sinha to come to the rescue of such families of the displaced persons.
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