The House witnessed noisy scenes even as the Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather made repeated efforts to restore order.
File Photo: ANI
Chaotic scenes were witnessed in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Tuesday as Congress and an independent MLA raised objections to BJP MLA Vikram Randhawa’s earlier allegation of encroachments by people from Kashmir on the Jammu Development Authority (JDA) land.
The House witnessed noisy scenes even as the Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather made repeated efforts to restore order.
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Congress MLAs Irfan Hafiz Lone and Iftikhar Ahmad, along with independent MLA Sheikh Khursheed Ahmad, displayed placards and raised slogans like “Chor Machaaye Shor”, seeking an apology from Randhawa over his 13 February statement that 90 per cent of the encroachers on 688 Kanals of JDA land in his Bahu constituency here were from Kashmir.
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As the House met this morning after a three-day holiday, Khursheed Ahmad tried to raise the issue but was asked by the Speaker to take his seat.
The House paid tributes to former minister Peerzada Ghulam Ahmad Shah and former MLC Brij Mohan Sharma, who died on 13 February and 16 February, respectively.
The two Congress legislators and the independent MLA stood up and started chanting slogans and displaying placards to press for an apology from Randhawa, claiming that he himself has occupied over eight Kanals of JDA land and has no justification to point fingers at anyone.
Ruling National Conference and also PDP members supported the Congress and the independent MLA amid the wordy duels between Randhawa and the agitated members who accused him of trying to defame Kashmiri Muslims.
Randhawa tried to clear his position while the three agitating members moved towards the Well of the House, but were stopped by Assembly marshals.
On the intervention of Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary and senior BJP leader Sham Lal Sharma, Randhawa made a statement in the House, stating that he has not attacked any community as a whole, but his concern was about certain individuals who have occupied land in his constituency.
Meanwhile, the government informed the House that over 17.27 lakh Kanals of state land have been encroached across Jammu and Kashmir, of which over 14.29 lakh Kanals have been retrieved so far.
Replying to a question tabled by BJP MLA Sham Lal Sharma regarding the status of encroached and retrieved state land, the Revenue Minister told the House that in the Kashmir division, 3,27,198.50 Kanals of state land have been encroached, of which 2,16,912.98 Kanals have been retrieved.
It stated that in the Jammu division, 14,00,049.66 Kanals of land have been encroached, while 12,12,287.44 Kanals have been retrieved.
In total, 17,27,248.16 Kanals of state land were found encroached across J&K, of which 14,29,200.42 Kanals have been retrieved.
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