Probe into Rs 25k-cr Roshni land scam yet to take off

JAMMU: The probe into the much-hyped Rs 25,000-crore Roshni scheme scam — dubbed as the biggest ever land scandal in J&K by the Comptroller and Auditor General — seems to be moving at a snail’s pace as the authorities have been adopting delaying tactics in constituting a high-level committee in this regard.

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 8

The probe into the much-hyped Rs 25,000-crore Roshni scheme scam — dubbed as the biggest ever land scandal in J&K by the Comptroller and Auditor General — seems to be moving at a snail’s pace as the authorities have been adopting delaying tactics in constituting a high-level committee in this regard.

After members created an uproar in the House, demanding a probe into the scam, Chairman, Legislative Council, Haji Anayat Ali had on June 28 this year directed the government to constitute a high-level committee to probe the misappropriation into the land allocation under the Roshni Act and submit the report within two months.

Though five months have passed since the Chairman’s direction, the Revenue Department is yet to initiate the process to constitute the committee.

“I have already given a reminder to the department to constitute the committee. I hope some action would be taken in this regard,” said Haji Anayat Ali, adding, “It appears that due to the turbulence in the Valley no action has been taken so far in this regard.”

The Upper House Chairman was hopeful that the committee would be constituted soon to probe the land scam.

The Chairman, while issuing the direction, had directed that the committee to do a thorough probe into the matter and had asked it to submit its report to the government.

Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Syed Basharat Bukhari had assured the House that he would himself accompany the committee members to do on-the-spot inspection of the alleged encroached lands.

The scheme was launched during the tenure of former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. Under the scheme, thousands of acres were transferred to illegal occupants at nominal prices. The beneficiaries of the scheme include top ministers of the current government, former ministers, politicians, police officers and bureaucrats.

Bukhari had told the Legislative Assembly in June that the scheme had generated only Rs 78.47 crore instead of Rs 25,000 crore, killing its purpose.

According to official data, 19,293 kanals of state land had been transferred to 10,328 beneficiaries in Kashmir and 21,0,398 kanals to 39,829 beneficiaries in the Jammu region.

No senior official of the Revenue Department was available for comment.