Jammu, April 2: The opposition and coalition members in Legislative Council on Monday grilled the state government over delay in the completion of land settlement operation in the state and demanded inquiry into the huge money shown spent on the project so far
 Initiating discussion on the issue under rule 51 (1) of the rules of procedure, Ajay Kumar Sadhotra of National Conference said that farmers are being exploited and harassed due to the slow pace of settlement operation.
 He expressed concern that out of total 5225 villages in the state, the settlement was done only in 1729 villages since it started 13 years back. He said the speed on which it was going on suggests that the operation would take almost four decades to complete.
 Putting a question mark on the huge expenditure shown on the settlement operation, Sadhotra sought the details of the same. “Government even doesn’t know where it has spent Rs 170 crore. There is no accountability of the money spent till this time, kindly provide the exact allocations of funds in House” he demanded.
 Referring to the temporary settlement done in eighties, he said that at that time the settlement was completed within 6 years that too without having today’s technology. He wanted to know the reasons as why the project was facing inordinate delay when there were all modern facilities available.
 Sadhotra said that the government should formulate a comprehensive plan to complete the settlement and conduct inquiry into the usage of funds.
 He also drew attention of the government towards the deplorable condition of Latha and overall condition of Revenue Department and alleged that untrained Patwaris have been deputed for the operation.
 Taking part in discussion, Javed Ahmad Rana reminded the fire incident in Tehsil Mendhar in which entire revenue record was gutted and asked whether the government has taken any initiative to re-document the destroyed records. He also suggested government to involve some private organizations to complete the settlement operation.
 He also demanded   filling of  settlement Tehsildar post in Menhdar Tehsil that is lying vacant for last four years.
 People Democratic Party, Murtza Ahmad Khan said that the pace with which settlement operations was being conducted seems to be an unending process. Government should involve some functional organisation so that it can be completed with in shortest possible time.
 While pointing out the discrepancies in the revenue records, Bashir Ahmad Veeri apprised the house that   the agricultural land has been recorded as Forest land and vice-versa in Islamabad (Anantnag), while the khasra number of Pahalgam are shown in (Islamabad) Anantnag  and vice versa.
 B R Kundal suggested that norms should be followed properly while rectifying the revenue records. He said the procedure for constructing revenue records was not being followed properly adding that  as per norms when the records were prepared it should be  read in front of the people so that they could point out the mistakes and file objections. He said that failure  to do so had led to discrepancies.
 He suggested that records should be taken out of from Muhafiz Khana and read in front of public and accordingly rectified.
 Winding up the discussion, Minister of State for Home, Nasir Aslam Wani,   admitted the delay in the settlement operation due to lack of manpower. He apprised the house that in order to complete the operation in less than ten years, the department requires   fulfillment of certain pre requisites like providence of more than 2000 patwaris, 400 girdawars, 400 computer operators, 400 ETS machines, 1200 settlement assistants and 400 surveyors etc.
 He said the state government has sent a plan to Government of India if it gets accepted the settlement operation would be completed with in 10 years.
 He clarified that Patwaris so working in department are trained as they had undergone a full training course adding that even Latha could be prepared again.
 He further welcomed the members of house to join together and discuss the matter putting forward their suggestions so that a collective effort can be put to solve the problem.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 2 Apr 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 2 Apr 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 3 Apr 2012 00:00:00 IST