Jammu, Mar 18: Jammu and Kashmir government has conferred ownership rights to 62,687 persons for 48,803 acres (39 lakh kanals) of state land for Rs 72 crore, the Legislative Council was informed Friday.
 "Out of 14,7752 applications disposed off, 62,687 persons have been conferred with ownership rights by the state government for 48,803 acres of state land in Jammu and Kashmir," Minister for Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Raman Bhalla told the Legislative Council in reply to a joint question by Javaid Rana, SC Gupta, Khalid Najeeb Suharwardy and Nizam-ud-Din Khatana.
 He said the total revenue generated from granting the ownership rights has been Rs 72.90 crore till now.
 The members claimed that government lands have been sold for peanuts under the Roshni Scheme which was carved out by the previous Congress-PDP government.
 Giving further details, Bhalla said ownership rights were granted for government land measuring 80,347 acres for Rs 20.70 crores, with highest revenue realized from Jammu district where 5,364 acres of land was granted to beneficiaries.
 In Kashmir Valley, ownership rights were granted to 2,960 persons for 4,029 acres of state land for Rs 52.20 crores and land measuring 61 acres was granted to 287 persons for Rs 50.62 crores, he said.
 The state government regularised and gave ownership rights to the lands under illegal occupation of people under Jammu Kashmir State Lands (Vesting Ownership to Occupants) Act 2001, popularly known as Roshni Scheme, which was implemented in the state during the rule of coalition government headed by the then Chief Minister  Ghulam Nabi Azad.
 Jammu and Kashmir government had received 2,56,844 applications for seeking ownership rights for the lands under illegal occupation in the state, the House was informed.
 Recently the government through an official handout had said that around 3500 kanals of land in Kupwara district were handed-over to occupants against a cost of Rs 1.45 lakh.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 18 Mar 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 19 Mar 2011 00:00:00 IST