Raja Syed Rather
Srinagar Dec 12 :
Union Ministry of Defence Friday informed Lok Sabha that more than 1,200 acres of defence land in Jammu and Kashmir is either under encroached or involved in litigation.
According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the official figures placed before Parliament reveal that “J&K has 877.98 acres of surplus defence land, identified as not currently required for operational needs of the Armed Forces.”
On the issue of encroachments, the Ministry reported that 311.86 acres of defence land in J&K and 29.58 acres in Ladakh are currently under encroachment. “Across the country, over 11,000 acres are encroached.” the Ministry said.
The data further reveal that 930.36 acres of defence land in J&K is under litigation, making it one of the higher figures among Union Territories. No litigation-related land was listed for Ladakh in the annexure.
The government clarified that surplus land identified across India has been circulated to other central departments for possible utilisation—stressing that any land appearing unused may actually be reserved for military training, mobilisation, or future infrastructure under Key Location Plans (KLP).
It further noted that defence land records have been fully digitised under the ‘Raksha Bhoomi’ project, though public access remains restricted due to security considerations—(KNO)