As many as 59 families encroaching upon the Jhelum banks in the Khannabal area of Anantnag district have decided to vacate the land.
The families have asked for a window of two and a half months to relocate. They will file an affidavit in this regard in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
The Anantnag district administration has taken initiatives to clear the Jhelum embankment in compliance with the High Court order of 2014.
Soon after the floods last year, the HC had in November 2014 heard a public interest litigation and directed the authorities to ensure no further encroachments along the Jhelum banks.
The court had also directed that the existing encroachments be demolished and cleared.
Subsequently, in May this year, the court emphasised the need to restore the Jhelum to its original width. It directed the state government to keep the court in the loop on the measures being taken in this regard.
While trying to enforce the court directives, the district administration met with resistance at Boatman Colony in Khannabal. A total of 35 illegal structures were to be demolished in the district.
Residents argued that they had been living at the place for more than half a century and should be provided alternate accommodation before being displaced.
“We are not succumbing to the protests. We demolished 13 structures on Friday,” said Anantnag tehsildar Ghulam Rasool Bhat.
Bhat said the rest of the structures had not been demolished after the residents agreed to move out within two and a half months and demolish the structures themselves.
“They will submit an affidavit in this regard at the High Court in Srinagar,” the official said.
Even though the court order did not say anything about the relocation of the displaced, the district administration has provided the displaced an alternate accommodation at Akura village in the district.
59 Anantnag families to give up encroached land along Jhelum
