The Railways has recaptured its land by removing illegal encroachments on land worth crores of rupees adjoining the Jammu railway station. If the railway officials agree, the said land will soon be walled so that it is not occupied again.
An illegal settlement by the name of Maratha Basti settled on railway land. There were 144 slums in the said settlement of about 25 kanals, in which Rohingya, migrant workers of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh were living. Although railways had put up notices outside the slums of these migrant workers asking them to remove the slums themselves, the railway removed the slums of those who did not. After this Railways order, all the workers removed their slums within just four to five days. The engineering wing of the Railways has started taking possession of the vacant land.
Illegal occupation of railway land has been done for the last 20 years. Not only residential slums but shops were also built there. Under the guise of settlement, there were also hoaxes there. Petrol and diesel reaching Jammu through railways were stolen and sold in this settlement. Apart from this, drug smuggling also takes place in this settlement.
Railway’s Senior Section Engineer Ashwani Kumar said that the illegal occupation of about 25 kanals of railway land had been removed. Adequate measures are being taken to ensure that this land is not occupied again, soon, four land walls will be done. The people living there have removed the encroachments on their own.
Amish Mahajan
