Former Minister’s commercial building demolished in Shopian

Srinagar, Jan 27: Authorities today demolished a commercial structure in the Shopian area of South Kashmir that was allegedly built illegally on state land by a former minister. Tehsildar Shopian, Fida Hussain, said that they started the demolition campaign in the main town by demolishing a commercial complex that had been built illegally on state land and had been registered with the revenue department under the name Khalsa Sarkar. “We arrived in the main town to begin demolition on the orders of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, Financial Commissioner Revenue and Divisional Kashmir. This is serial number 34, a state-owned piece of property that is listed in the revenue records as a Khalsa Sarkar and that people are occupying illegally. Yes, the former MLA owns the building that is being demolished, which consists of four shops,” he said, adding that they have been instructed to demolish the unlawful buildings of influential persons before moving on to other people's buildings.Earlier, the Shopian district administration said 17 hectares of land had been freed from influential encroachers as part of an anti-encroachment drive. “A commercial structure belonging to an ex-minister of social welfare was demolished as part of our anti-encroachment drive to reclaim Kahcharai/state land from unlawful encroachments. No one is above the law,” it tweeted. It added that the latest encroachment drive has successfully freed 343 kanals and 4 marlas of Kahcharai/state land from influential encroachments. “The drive to reclaim and protect our public land will continue,” the administration stated. On Wednesday, the administration demolished the outer wall of the residential house belonging to former minister and National Conference leader Ali Mohammad Sagar near the Srinagar Airport as part of the drive.