PDP, BJP on collision course over anti-encroachment drive

BJP leader hits out at CAPD Minister for ‘encouraging encroachments’ on state land

The Peoples Democratic Party and the BJP appear to be on a collision course as both parties have taken divergent stands on removing encroachments from state as well as the forest land.
Senior BJP leader and state vice-president of the party Chander Mohan Sharma has taken on Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Minister Choudhary Zulfikar Ali of the PDP for “encouraging encroachments” on state land. “It is very unfortunate that a Cabinet minister of the government has brazenly been instigating people to encroach upon a piece of government land situated on a prime location in the city,” Sharma said here today. Instead of encouraging the government officers who had taken the initiative to remove encroachments from 20 acres of state land, the minister was indirectly threatening them, Sharma added.
On December 31, a team of the Revenue Department took up the task of removing encroachments from the land illegally occupied by some families on the banks of the Tawi river. Several revenue officials and the Station House Officer, Nowabad, were injured when some encroachers pelted the anti-encroachment squad with stones.
Choudhary Zulfikar visited the area illegally encroached upon by some families and assured them that he would look into their demands. The Minister had directed the authorities to prepare a comprehensive plan for the regularisation of land encroached upon by the encroachers on the banks of the Tawi.
This direction of the CAPD Minister has evoked a strong reaction from the BJP. “I strongly condemn the action of Cabinet minister Zulfikar Ali for his support and encouragement to the land mafia responsible for prime land encroachments in the Nikki Tawi area. I want to remind the minister that the coalition government is functioning on the basic principles of providing good governance. Encouraging the land mafia and illegal occupants of the state land and the Tawi basins goes against these basic principles,” said the BJP leader.
Earlier, the PDP minister had opposed the anti-encroachment drive launched by Forest Minister Bali Bhagat. The CAPD Minister had alleged that the anti-encroachment drive was focusing on a particular community.