*Exercise begins from Narwal, Section 144 CrPC invoked
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, July 12: Taking serious note of devastation caused during the recent heavy rains, the Jammu district administration has launched massive drive against encroachments in the seasonal nullahs/khads in order to protect the life and property of the people residing in the vicinity of such water bodies.
The decision is also in compliance to the order issued by the State High Court imposing complete ban on any kind of construction/sale of land recorded as water body/khad in the revenue records. The drive has been started from Narwal area by invoking Section 144 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and thereafter the focus would be laid on other nullahs also.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that following flash floods in Narwal Bala area due to heavy rainfall on the intervening night of July 8 and 9, the District Magistrate Jammu, Simrandeep Singh visited the area along with Tehsildar Bahu and engineers of Urban Environment Engineering Department (UEED) and personally observed that there was enormous damage to the properties of the people due to the flow of rain water with heavy intensity.
The District Magistrate also noticed that enormous encroachments inside the nullah/khad by various people became a reason for the uncontrolled flow of rain water with heavy intensity leading to damages to properties in downward areas, sources said.
It also came to the fore during the inspection that Town Drainage Department had in the past taken up some flood protection works, which were also encroachments. “The flood protection works were actually carried out to safeguard the illegal encroachers, which further became an immediate cause of floods”, sources said, adding “the District Magistrate was shocked to know that instead of keeping check on encroachments, the Town Drainage Department maintained blind eye towards the same and later showed keen interest in protecting the properties of the encroachers”.
The spot enquiry and visual inspection of the nullah/khad from the highway revealed that due to lack of proper demarcation of the nullah/khad, various people breached the old bunds/protection walls and intruded inside the nullah thereby forcing the nullah to flow in haphazard manner and cause wild havoc, sources revealed.
During the scrutiny of the records, the District Magistrate came to know that Khasra No.260 in village Narwal Bala is recorded as Gair Mumkin Khad (water channel) in the Jamabandhi of 1956-57 but many people constructed structures inside the nullah on the grounds of having ownership and possession rights in the Khasra No.260, which became the major cause of encroachment and squeezing of nullah.
As per the revenue records of 1956, the maximum width of the Narwal Bala Khad was 800 feet (at highway) and minimum as 275 feet. However, due to encroachment the maximum width left today on the highway is 82 feet and minimum is 17 feet only. This indicates that nullah has shrunk 10 times from 1956 till date, which is further getting squeezed by every passing day due to encroachments.
Keeping in view the immediate danger and threat of flooding in view of the ongoing rainy season, the District Magistrate, Simrandeep Singh has decided to deal the matter under Section 144 of CrPC to prevent any danger to the lives and properties of the people living downstream of Narwal Bala nullah.
While invoking this Section, the District Magistrate has ordered the Executive Engineer and AEE Town Drainage and their entire team of enforcement to immediately deploy men and machinery and dismantle the encroachments existing in the nullah.
The Tehsildar Bahu has been directed to point out the illegal encroachers and assist the team of Town Drainage Department in carrying out the eviction drive. Similarly, SSP Jammu has been directed to provide necessary assistance so that the task is performed on war footing.
Since order has been passed in case of an urgent apprehended danger to life and property of the people and it was not possible to serve individual notices, the order has been passed ex-parte, sources said. In the order, the District Magistrate has made it clear that anybody not complying with this order shall be dealt with under Section 188 RPC and shall be referred to the Division Bench of the State High Court for initiating contempt proceedings.
It is pertinent to mention here that Section 3 of J&K Common Land Regulation Act, 1956 provides for maintenance and continuation of the right of use in respect of common lands which include any road, street, lane, path channel and drain etc for the common purposes of all.
The State High Court in the case titled Sabir Dass Versus DC Anantnag has clarified that such rights of common use on the common land are not restricted to only public places but even extend to private lands which the inhabitants of a village have acquired the right of use uninterruptedly for a long time.
Moreover, the Division Bench of State High Court in its order dated July 10, 2015 in the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) titled Balbir Singh Versus State and Others has ordered complete ban on any kind of construction/sale of land recorded as water body/khad or abetting water body in the revenue records.
The District Magistrate has directed all the Tehsildars, UEED, JMC and Irrigation and Flood Control authorities to find out similar encroachments in their areas in nullahs/khads so that eviction drive can be launched against them and also to immediately stop any construction going thereat.
Worthwhile to mention here that people from different areas of Jammu have continuously been pleading for action against encroachments in the nullahs/khads as the same have become nuisance and posing threat to Government as well as private properties.
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