J&K govt to initiate probe in Roshni scheme
The Minister for Revenue told Assembly, the government will order an inquiry as the scheme has generated only Rs 78.47 crores instead of Rs 25,000 crores killing its very purpose.
In Short
- The beneficiaries of the scheme include top politicians.
- The Minister for Revenue said
- the government will order an inquiry.
- In 2001 the state government enacted the Roshni Act.
Jammu and Kashmir government on Saturday said it would initiate an inquiry into Roshni scheme implemented by former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, under which thousands of acres of land was transferred to illegal occupants at nominal prices for regularisation.
BIGGEST LAND SCAM EVER: PAG
The beneficiaries of the scheme include top ministers of current government, former ministers, politicians, police officers, bureaucrats and others.
The Minister for Revenue, Syed Basharat Bhukari told Assembly, the government will order an inquiry as the scheme has generated only Rs 78.47 crores instead of Rs 25,000 crores killing its very purpose.
In 2014, Principal Accountant General (PAG) had also expressed similar views on the scheme saying that state government has lost Rs 25,000 crore under the Roshni Act.
The PAG had described Roshni Act as the biggest land scam ever.
The minister said 19,293 Kanals (one kanal=0.8 acre) of state land had been transferred among 10,328 beneficiaries in Kashmir and 21,0398 Kanals among 39,829 beneficiaries in Jammu region.
He said Rs 54 crore revenue had been generated in Kashmir from it and Rs 24 from in Jammu region.
The BJP and the PDP members told the Assembly that huge bungling have been committed in allotting land under the Act to beneficiaries, especially politicians and bureaucrats.
In response, the minister said that scheme was started to generate revenue of Rs 25,000 crore for the state. "But it has generated revenue of only Rs 78.47 crores." He said an inquiry will be initiated to reveal the facts about the whole scheme.
SOME LIGHT ON THE ROSHNI ACT
In 2000, the National Conference Government had conceived the Roshni Act to generate Rs 25,000 crore for development of power projects in the state sector of Jammu and Kashmir.
In 2001, the state government enacted the law, the J&K state land (vesting of ownership rights to the occupants) act 2001 or Roshni Act. Under the law people, who were occupying state land illegally upto 1990, had to pay about Rs 20 lakh per kanal land (1kanal= 0.8 acre) to get ownership rights.
The act was named as Roshni Act so that the revenue generated from it would be used in power sector.
In May 2005, during Ghulam Nabi Azad's government, amendments were brought in the law.
Instead of 1990, the cut of date was extended to 2004. It also came up with several clauses making illegal occupants, who had raised residential houses and commercial buildings on the state land illegally, to pay 10 to 15 percent of the total of actual price to get the legal rights of the state land.
The final blow was agriculture land. For agriculture land illegal occupant was asked to pay Rs 100 per kanal.
That time Azad and Congress described the move as equal to land to tiller reforms initiated by Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah in 19