Govt retrieves orchard “illegally occupied” by former minister in Shopian

Srinagar, Jan 28: J&K government on Saturday said that it has retrieved 15 Kanals of “illegally occupied” high value orchard land from former Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir.
The land has been retrieved during the ongoing anti encroachment drive.
Officials in Shopian said hundreds of Kanals of illegally occupied land were freed on Saturday during an ongoing drive.
“Among the 100s of kanals of illegally occupied land freed today, Shopian administration retrieved 15 Kanals of illegally occupied high value orchard land from former Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu,” a tweet by the district authorities in Shopian said. It added that government’s zero-tolerance policy ensures land is used for public benefit.
There was no immediate reaction from Drabu over the government’ claim.
Drabu, a noted economist and Jammu and Kashmir’s state’s last finance minister, was credited with forging PDP’s alliance with the BJP in 2015 after two-month long talks with Ram Madhav- the then BJP General Secretary.
On Friday, authorities in Shopian had demolished a commercial building of ex Minister of State Social Welfare Ghulam Hassan Khan in Shopian town.
J&K government has issued an order directing all the Deputy Commissioners to ensure 100 pc removal of encroachments from state land, including Roshni and Kahcharai (grazing land) by January 31. While there has been an uproar over the government order, the Lt Governor Manoj Sinha has stressed that the poor people would not be touched and only powerful people who misused their position to encroach upon the State land would be evicted.