Villagers in Kashmir protest against CRPF land plan

An administrative council chaired by LG Manoj Sinha recently approved the transfer of 524 kanals, or 65 acres, in favour of the force in Anantnag, Pulwama and Shopian

Representational image : File picture

Muzaffar Raina   |   TT  |  Srinagar   |  01.12.21: Villagers in Kashmir have stepped up protests against the government for allotting land to the CRPF at multiple places for setting up permanent camps for its personnel and families, claiming the move will deprive locals of their livelihood.

An administrative council chaired by lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha recently approved the transfer of 524 kanals, or 65 acres, in favour of the CRPF in Anantnag, Pulwama and Shopian for establishing around 10 “battalion camping sites”, triggering fears the force was creating permanent enclaves in the Valley.

Officials said the CRPF already had “a few” permanent camps in Kashmir, set up decades ago, along with numerous temporary camps. But this is the first time in years the force has been given large tracts of land permanently. The army has numerous sprawling permanent camps across Jammu and Kashmir.

The villagers claim they have been using the land allotted to the CRPF, at least at some places, for agriculture and the move will deprive them of their only source of livelihood. There have been protests in Pulwama against the decision in recent days while a group of villagers came to Srinagar’s media enclave on Monday to stage a protest.

Mohammad Sultan Alai, a villager from Pulwama’s Kakapora, said around 80 kanals, or 10 acres, of land had been marked for the CRPF in Oukhoo village.

“This land was barren a few decades ago but the government of the time dug two irrigation canals to make it cultivable. Our generation has lived on it for sustenance,” Alai, one the protesters, said.

“We have been cultivating paddy and wheat on it. Where will we go if the government snatches the land?”

A government official in Pulwama said the villagers were in “illegal” possession of land that “belonged to the state”.

The villagers have not challenged the government’s claim that the state owns the land but hold that they have been using it for decades, giving them quasi rights over it.

Mohammad Maqbool, a resident, said dozens of acres in Oukhoo was earlier notified in official records as agricultural land until it was marked as barren some years, the change in nomenclature apparently paving the way for the government to allot it to the CRPF.

“We are mostly illiterate. That time few realised the move will hit us hard. We have, in fact, been paying water usage charges to the government for years,” Maqbool said

Another villager said they never thought the land 

would be handed over to the CRPF.

“Their presence will massively curb the movement of villagers. This will also put the village under the radar of militants, endangering our lives,” he said.

The villagers said the administration had issued several notices to them to vacate the land.

The CRPF has about 60 battalions, or 60,000 men, in the Valley, in addition to thousands more from other paramilitary forces. An additional 30 companies, or 3,000 personnel, of the CRPF were deployed in Srinagar city recently following a spate of militant attacks.

Officials said the CRPF had recently written to the Union home ministry to accelerate the process to transfer the allotted land to the force, in addition to seeking funds to pay the Jammu and Kashmir government for the plots and build infrastructure.

The separatist Hurriyat Conference on Tuesday expressed serious concern over the proposed land handover, complaining it would put the “livelihood” of villagers “in great peril”.

“Kashmir being the world’s most militarised zone, there are already thousands of acres of land in the military’s possession, which has dispossessed the people of Kashmir of the use of their natural resource,” a spokesman said.