Land Conversion!!!

Kashmir Magazine

In November last year, during a press conference in Jammu, government spokesperson Rohit Kansal talked about the “need” which led to several laws being amended or repealed. In one specific instance, he referred to the now amended J&K Land Revenue Act, claiming that no agricultural land can be used for any non-agricultural purpose or bought by “outsiders.”

“No agricultural land can be transferred to any person from outside J&K but can only be sold to an agriculturist from within J&K… the safeguard on agricultural land alone would ensure that more than 90% of land in the UT … remains protected and with the people of J&K,” Kansal repeatedly insisted.

However the with the ammendments made to the J&K land laws , a district collector is now empowered to approve the conversion of agriculture land for non-agricultural purposes.

The construction of hotels, shopping malls and residential houses on agricultural land is already unabated in Kashmir in absence of any monitoring body to keep check on conversion of agricultural land.

Despite several laws being in place, the state government has failed to stop the conversion of agricultural land into commercial and residential purposes.

As per Agriculture department figures, two lakh kanals of agriculture land of the net sown or cultivated area of 3.5 lakh hectare has been converted for commercial and other purposes in Kashmir over the years.
Official sources said the conversion of agricultural land was going unabated in Jammu and Kashmir due to failure of the government in curbing on it.
The provisions of J&K Land Revenue Act 1996 prohibit the conversion of paddy or vegetable land into any other use. Besides violation of laws, the construction of residential and commercial buildings on agricultural land is violation of the master plan.
“The conversion of agricultural land into other purposes was done in connivance of officials who facilitate construction of houses, buildings and shops on the farming land over the years,” an official of Revenue Department told KNS.

A high-level official committee constituted by the government in 2009 to report on master plan violations, had identified and compiled a comprehensive report of around 2500 illegal structures in the Srinagar city alone. “Most of these constructions were made on agricultural land by some politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats. Government succumbed to the pressure of these influential people and shelved the report without taking any action on it,” the official said.

It has been seen most of the agricultural land has been converted into non-agricultural purposes on the outskirts of Srinagar and other rural areas of the Valley.
The High Court had pulled up the state government several times and directed the authorities to ensure that no conversion of agricultural land is allowed for commercial, residential and industrial purposes. However, sources said the authorities had failed to follow the directions of the court. Agriculture is the prime source of the state income as around 70 percent of the population is directly or indirectly involved with it.

The Economic Survey Report has also portrayed a grim picture of conversion of agricultural land, saying it is happening “at an alarming rate” and leading to further dependence of food on imports from outside the state.
As per the report, the arable land in J&K has shrunk from 0.14 hectare per-person in 1981 to 0.08 hectare per-person in 2001 and further to 0.06 hectare per-person in 2012.

According to a report by Town Planning Organisation Kashmir, Rapid conversion of agriculture land in Srinagar to non-farm activities will drastically bring down a number of jobs in primary sector in the next 15 years.

The report says conversion in Srinagar district will reduce jobs like cultivators and agriculture labourers from the present 8 percent to 3 percent by 2035.

The percentage of the working population engaged in primary economic activities has reduced from 22 in 1981 to 8 today, the town planning report says.

“Primary sector constituting mainly cultivators and agriculture labourers is assumed to further decrease from present 8.5 percent to 5 percent in coming years,” the report reads.

Activities associated with the primary sector include agriculture, mining, forestry, farming, grazing, hunting, fishing and quarrying.

Estimated to be about 3 percent of the total of main workers by 2035, the decline in agricultural labourers, the report says, is attributed to land use conversions to non-farm activities, mechanisation of farming and migration of people from rural to urban areas.

Due to decline in working opportunities in the primary sector, people have started moving towards the tertiary sector.

Workers in the tertiary category have increased from 66 percent to 88 percent of total workers’ population during the last three decades, the report reveals.

Tertiary economic sector involves activities associated with the distribution of finished products to the market. Activities associated with this sector also include services like government and private transport and communication, wholesale and retail sales, entertainment, restaurants, media, tourism, insurance, banking, healthcare, and law practice.

Employment in the tertiary sector is estimated to add 2.90 lakh new jobs during the next two decades. These jobs will be created in sectors like retail and wholesale, trade, commerce, warehousing storage, transport and communications, services and allied activities including the informal sector.

“Tertiary sector which is the predominant feature of all district headquarter towns will continue to play an important role in the economy of the region,” the report says.

It further says that the targets which have been set as policy measures are pre-requisite to arrest the deteriorating economic base of the city.

There has been rapid conversion of agricultural land as Kashmir has lost around 80,000 hectares of land for last four years.

Large scale conversion of agricultural land into horticulture, unplanned construction including residential colonies, factories, brick kilns, shopping complexes and other commercial infrastructure have come across as prime reasons for the damage of agricultural land.

As per official figures of Agriculture Department, Kashmir had 4,67,700-hectares of agriculture land in 2015 which has shrunk to 3,89,000 hectares till 2018.

This shows Kashmir has lost around 80,000 hectares of agricultural land to non-agricultural purpose since 2015.

Data shows that land under paddy cultivation in Kashmir region shrank from 1,48,000 hectares in 2015 to 1,40,000 in 2018.

The data further shows that cultivation of pulses has declined from 14,600 hectares to 12,767 hectares.

An official told KNS that there are several laws on the illegal conversion of agricultural land use into non-agricultural purposes but the implementation is “poor”.

“For instance, Section 133-A of the J&K Land Revenue Act says ‘No land growing Shali crops, vegetables or saffron Lullis can be put to any use other than the purposes mentioned above, without obtaining prior permission of the revenue minister or an officer duly authorized by him in this behalf is required for conversion of agriculture land,” he said.

He said, “Similarly, Section 13 of the J&K Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976 also prevents the conversion of agriculture land.
Recently Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Pandurang K Pole chaired a meeting of concerned officers on conservation of wetlands in Kashmir.
Duringr the meeting, ,he reviewed the progress made with regard to demarcation, land transfer, installation of boundary walls, geo coordinate, pillars and removal of encroachments of wetlands including Wullar, Hokersar, Gilsar, Anchar, Narkara, and Manasbal lakes.

The Div Com also stressed on the removal of illegal encroachments on Tchount Kul, Brari Nambal, Rakhi Arath and Nalla Amir Khan.

At the outset, Div Com directed concerned DCs to ensure timely demarcation and ensure removal of all encroachments.

Emphasizing on close monitoring, he instructed concerned to take stringent action including register FIRs against the offenders indulging in repeated illegal activities.

Calling for timely demarcation of all pending area of wetlands besides completion of installation of boundary pillars, Div Com said that the step would prevent illegal encroachments on wetlands.

Stressing on the beautification of wetlands, Div Com directed concerned to ensure immediate removal of already dumped waste from Hokarsar and other wetlands and emphasized that only alternate and shifted dumping sites are in use for dumping purposes.

He also directed concerned to expedite beautification work on wetlands and called for massive awareness generation on the importance of wetland preservation.

Among others, the Deputy Commissioners of Budgam, Bandipora, Ganderbal and various other concerned officers attended the meeting in person or through the video Conferencing.

According to a senior officer of Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA), dilly-dally tactics of the Government to strengthen the authority with a police unit for stopping enforcement of Dal Lake is giving a field day to land mafia.

“ If the trend of encroachments continues, dal would be sold as patches of land in next 20 years,” he warned.

An environmental expert said that the conversion of Agriculture and Horticulture zone with clearance and approval of the revenue authorities for residential and commercial constructions across Kashmir is fast reducing Kashmir into a construction zone.

Director Agriculture Kashmir Mohd Iqbal Choudhry told Kashmir News Service that he has sent letters to the Deputy Commissioners of all the districts of Kashmir valley to stop constructions on agriculture land used for cultivation of paddy and other crops.

Director Horticulture Kashmir Aijaz Ahmad Bhat said that he too plans to write letters to Deputy Commissioner’s of all the districts to take action against the violation of the construction norms for allowing residential and Commercial constructions on Horticulture land.

Both the Director’s suggested horizontal system of residential constructions to deal with the increasing challenges of housing facilities in Kashmir.

It may be mentioned here that the government has already put a blanket ban on residential and commercial constructions but the ban is being violation by the revenue authorities particularly Tehsildars who issues clearance certificates for construction on agriculture and Horticulture land.