Cabinet approves policy on land encroachments

Jammu, Nov 16 (UNI) The Jammu and Kashmir government has approved a policy on encroachments, currently occupying over 13 lakh kanals of state land, under which the land grabbers are likely to be asked to surrender the land in their possession or make payment as per present market value within a fixed time frame.

A notification likely to be issued today, sources said.

The state Cabinet, which sat till late night yesterday, discussed a draft prepared by Revenue Department on current encroachment of state land, which exceed more than 13 lakh kanals.

As per the document, the land encroachers will have to either surrender encroached land to the government or make payment as per the present market value, whose rates will be fixed by the revenue department, within a fixed time frame.

After the time-frame, the encroachers will have to pay a penal interest but, if the land grabbers fail to pay the amount within the fixed time-frame, they will forfeit their land, sources said.

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