STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh has finally acted against the deep rooted nexus between land mafia and officials of the J&K Housing Board who were allegedly involved in multi crore land scam in Channi -Himmat.
On Monday, Dr Singh said, “I have already ordered cancellation of allotment of commercial sites on reclaimed portion of land retrieved from Thanger Nallah in Channi Himmat.”
He said the government will identify the officers responsible for the scam and punish the guilty after completing the inquiry.
Dy CM said, “Immediately after receiving the reports of multi crore land scam in Channi Himmat I ordered cancellation of all such allotments made on reclaimed land after the completion of channelisation work of Thanger Nallah. J&K Housing Board was keen on developing the strip as commercial sites and had allotted the same to private parties in grave violation of the Apex court rulings on change of land use of water bodies”.
Dr Singh said before he assumed charge of office the payments were made. However, I immediately ordered for an end to this multi crore deal, he added.
Dr Singh further said the land is with housing board and the violation has been corrected. Now the only job which is left is identification of J&K Housing Board officials who were responsible for the scam.
He said the government is committed to weed out corruption from government departments. “We will take strict action after the completion of inquiry in the case”, he said.
Welcoming the Dy CM’s decision, the President of Save Channi Himmat Action Committee P.L Kohli, said, “We welcome the statement of Dy CM over the issue of cancellation of allotments of commercial sites on reclaimed portion of land of Thanger Nallah in Channi Himmat.
Kohli said residents of Channi Himmat have been demanding development of green strip of land to save ecology of the housing colony on the reclaimed portion of land.
