Srinagar: Taking a strong exception to the recent changes in the land use laws announced by the government, Apni Party President Altaf Bukhari Saturday demanded immediate rollback of the decision that was loaded with far-reaching consequences.
A statement of the Apni Party issued here said that referring to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s parliament speech, Bukhari said that the agricultural land in J&K was supposed to be safeguarded by the government against any kind of fiddling with its land-use status.
He said that many arbitrary decisions including the recent one on land use policy had been rolled out resulting in an unwanted increase in the alienation among the people.
“Such policy decisions are the prerogative of an elected government and the present dispensation should desist from taking such unilateral moves that put a question mark on its mandate,” Bukhari said.
He said that given the assurances given by the Centre from time to time in this regard and the directions of the Supreme Court and the High Court, no permission should be granted for conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural purposes, especially for the non-domiciles of J&K.
“The High Court has also barred conversion of agricultural land in J&K given the fast-shrinking agricultural landmass and its repercussions on overall crop production that has witnessed a drastic fall in the last many years,” Bukhari said.
He said that the latest decision on land use policy would open floodgates for non-agricultural activities and further increase the dependency of the people of J&K on the import of food grains to manage their food requirements.