Srinagar: The decision of the Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha administration to transfer land to Central Reserve Paramilitary Forces (CRPF) for camps and accommodation has the residents of 'Pencil Village' in Pulwama up in arms against the government.
The Administrative Council of LG Manoj Sinha in Jammu and Kashmir on October 28 ordered to transfer more than 500 kanals of land in various localities of South Kashmir to CRPF for building camps and accommodation for their families.
Oukhoo village was named 'Pencil Village' by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann ki Baat last year, as the village is surrounded by factories which produce highest pencil material in the country.
In Oukhoo village in Pulwama district, which lies 4 kilometers from Srinagar-Jammu Highway, the administration transferred 85 kanals of land for this purpose. The decision to transfer land to paramilitary has annoyed the residents in the village.
Abdul Qayoom Alaie, a resident, said, "They cultivate rice, maize, wheat and vegetables on this land. When it is taken away by the paramilitary, how will we feed our families. This is our only source of sustenance," he told ETV Bharat said.
Ghulam Mohammad Alaie, another resident, said that their grandfathers have been cultivating this land and the government constructed two irrigation channels for farming.
A local woman, Masarrat, said that the life of their children and daughters will become "miserable" after the paramilitary forces construct camps there. While pencil factory manager Farooq Ahmad said that the land under the factories is not being taken away but they don't know "what lies ahead for their units".
However, Deputy Commissioner Pulwama has tweeted after the locals protested that "General Public is hereby informed that land in question at Oukhoo, Kakapora is exclusively state land & is not proprietary land of any individual/organization,"
"Pulwama administration is committed towards people's welfare/ development & anyone with a counter agenda of spreading baseless rumors and propaganda shall be aptly dealt with," it said.
