Yet another list of beneficiaries who either have availed land under the Roshni Act or encroached state land has been released by the Jammu and Kashmir administration. Over 2500 people including a retired police officer, a PDP leader's son, and a prominent businessman were in the list. The divisional administration of Jammu diligence of different tehsils of the district, the lists named 335 beneficiaries in Kashmir of the Roshni scheme covering eight districts.
A list of 3435 names was released by the divisional administration of Jammu covering the people encroached upon the state land, either recorded or not recorded in revenue records. Former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah and several other political leaders affiliated with the PDP and the Congress besides some retired police officers are in the list of accused of land encroachment. However, the Abdullahs have strongly denied the charges.
Around 1425 including farmers are in the list of encroachers of state over 15,653 kanals of land in Bhalwal tehsil. 664 people are shown under the occupation of 2,835 kanals of encroached land in Jammu north and another 88 people under the occupation of 514 kanals in Jammu West tehsil. The divisional administration so far released names of 623 beneficiaries of Roshni scheme in Kashmir valley. Among the 20 beneficiaries in Ganderbal district, Tipoo Sultan, a contractor, and son of former PDP minister Qazi Mohammad Afzal legalised his five kanal and 17 marlas of land by depositing Rs 600 under the Roshni Act, the list claimed. The divisional administration has made the list public as per the high court directions which declared the Roshni Act "illegal, unconstitutional and unsustainable" and ordered a CBI probe into the allotment of the land under this law.
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