STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Apni Party Provincial President and former Minister Manjit Singh on Monday demanded repeal of newly notified land laws for J&K terming them as anti-people and anti-farmers.
Referring to anger among people in Kandi and different parts of the region, the former Minister Manjit Singh said that the Govt’s decision to implement new land laws has given rise to apprehensions among the farmers who have been cultivating land since the last seven decades.
“These farmers have no other means of earning. They are dependent upon the land which they have held since decades and barren land allotted to them in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts of the Jammu Region,” said Manjit Singh.
He said that the farmers are worried about their lands and the future of their children will be snatched and they will be made landless in the backdrop of these land laws.
The Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Class (OBC) people cleared the barren land on the border and made it cultivate-able which also helped the security forces to check on the border.
“These people have lived on the border becoming eyes of the security agencies and worked in national interest by putting their lives at risk on the border and Kandi areas of the region,” said Manjit Singh.
The Govt should have announced compensation and launched some Kandi area specific schemes to encourage farming among the border people, but the land law order has worried them about their future.
Referring to the underdevelopment in Khour Block, the former Minister said that “The shabby condition of roads and there is lack of basic amenities in most of the areas of Khour Block. Many senior politicians have represented the constituency and some remained ministers, but still the negligence of developmental work is a glaring example of discrimination and official apathy.”
Manjit was speaking during the occasion when BJP leaders from Khour joined the Apni Party at Gandhi Nagar office.
Prominent among those who joined the party included former state media coordinator, BJP, Vijay Sharma (Neta Ji), Subash Chander, Madan Lal Sharma, Bishan Dass, Kuldeep Sharma among others. The organiser of the programme was Sohan Singh Soni. OBC State Coordinator Madan Lal Chalotra, Ex-MLA Ghulam Qadir Wani, Media Coordinator Raqeeq Ahmed Khan, Vaibhav Mattoo, JP Singh, Dilbar Singh, Raj Sharma, Vijay Mangotra, Vishal Zutshi, Jagnmeet Singh Bali and others were present on the occasion.
