MUHAMMAD MUKARAM
SRINAGAR: The last two decades have witnessed rapid surge in the prices of private land across the State with no monitoring by any government agency. Perplexed over the rapid increase in land prices especially near ensuing state government projects like the upcoming AIIMS in south Kashmir’s Awantipora, about 30 Km from summer capital Srinagar, people are finding them in a dock.
STATE TIMES after visiting the spot and having talked with common people learnt that earlier state government had identified nearly 3000 Kanals of land for the construction of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Awantipora.
Is the state authority paving way for the land sharks to push for sky rocketing prices? The land rates have increased drastically in the Awantipora after the government announced state owned land for the establishment of AIIMS.
The question arises here that whether land sharks are being protected by politicians and bureaucrats? Or are they selling the land under the nose of police and revenue officials? Notably, the land sharks alone cannot increase land prices without a go ahead from state revenue officials.
However, the local landowners in Awantipora said, after the government examined the land for premium medical facility in the area, the land prices surged within days of the announcement. “Buyers from not just the valley but across the State are showing interest to buy land in the catchment area where the institute is proposed,” a local landowner said.
A local resident, who owns a restaurant close to Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) campus disclosed that he is frequently visited by people enquiring about the availability of land in the area. The local landowners claim that interested parties are willing to pay desired rates for the land which was valued at Rs 50000 to Rs 1 lakh per Kanal.
“Due to the proposition of AIIMS in the locality, we are now receiving offers more than Rs 30 lakh for the same land,” a landowner, who owns more than 5 kanal land near the proposed site, said.
The locals claim that many land sharks in nexus with influential people increased the land price thirty times than the actual price in the area.
The government is yet to fix the prices of land in the area. Minister for Revenue, Abdul Rehman Veeri, admitted the hike in prices was ‘expected’. “It has become a prime location due to the already existing University campus and being on the National Highway, however, this hike is unprecedented,” Veeri said ensuring action against land mafia.
The average price of one kanal land in rural areas has surpassed the uptown Srinagar is estimated above Rs 1 crore. Due to lack of regulation by the authorities, the land prices in Kashmir especially in and around Srinagar have already skyrocketed within a decade, locals asserted. “The price of land in Srinagar city has touched sky and if not regulated, the same will happen in Awantipora and will only be controlled by land mafia,” a local claimed.
A senior police official posted in south Kashmir told STATE TIMES that it’s just not because of land mafia but lack of mechanism in the state to monitor or regulate the land rates. “The government has not prescribed land rates anywhere which is being exploited by vested interests,” he said. The official, wishing anonymity, says that the deals take place between two individuals, who have reached an understanding, which cannot be regulated.
