Construction banned in Nikki Tawi villages

Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 22

Against the backdrop of rising complaints regarding encroachment of the state and JDA (Jammu Development Authority) lands in the district, the UT Administration has ordered a ban on all kinds of construction activities on lands falling in the Nikki Tawi area.

There is large expanse of state land, measuring over 8,400 kanals situated in the Nikki Tawi area falling under the villages of Rakh Raipur, Chak Ganeshu and Chak Sardar Attar Singh of Jammu district where Jammu District Magistrate Sushma Chauhan has ordered prohibition on all kinds of constructions.

Of the identified land, nearly 240 kanals are situated in Chak Ganeshu village, 387 kanals in Chak Sardar Attar Singh, 2,585 kanals in Rakh Raipur village and 5,273 kanals in tehsil Jammu Khas.

“There have been frequent reports of land grabbing attempts in the Nikki Tawi area by some anti-social elements that have been thwarted by the authorities of the district administration, police and JDA. It has been often noticed that some unscrupulous elements attempt to grab the state land in the garb of private land (which is interspersed in the Nikki Tawi area) by raising boundary walls, laying plinths or raising other constructions (residential/commercial),” the District Magistrate said.

The ban on the construction activities has been imposed to undertake proper demarcation and delineation of the state land before any private claims are allowed to operate.

The ban on constructions assumed significance as certain ‘vested elements’ had always tried to stroke ‘communal passion’ during eviction drives.