A host of land and firing range issues, in which civil administration and the Defence Ministry have stakes in Jammu and Kashmir, were brought up for deliberations in the Civil-Military Liaison (CML) Conference held recently in Srinagar. A good number of Army top brass at the Northern Command, Air Force and senior bureaucrats of the State administration attended the crucial meeting chaired by the Chief Minister. A variety of issues came under deliberation in the conference. More significant issues among many of them were of the land falling ahead of the Line of Control and International Border for compensation and allotment/re-notification of land for firing ranges for the army. Amusingly, the previous Government had turned down the request of the Army for re-notification of the firing ranges and left the matter undecided though the lease had expired in 2013 and 2014 in some cases.
Largely, the Chief Minister was not averse to re-notification of some of the firing ranges but with riders. Both sides hotly debated this issue. Army has acquired Firing ranges in all the three regions since a long time. These are on lease and after the expiry of lease period, the leases has to be renewed which in technical language is known as re-notification. Landowners, whose land the Government acquired for this purpose, get compensation from the Ministry of Defence. Firing ranges are very crucial to the training of jawans in firearms. Army Commanders made it clear to the civilian Government that the delaying re-notification of firing ranges will adversely affects the training of jawans. However, it appears that some of the firing ranges can be cleared but with certain riders. The Government has agreed to constitute a committee with representatives from the army to decide what position needs to be adopted in the case of re-notification of firing ranges. Army reiterated its demand very strongly for allotment of land for firing ranges in place of Tosa Maidan in Kashmir and Kaleeth in Akhnoor, as the previous Government had not agreed to renewal of their lease. The Army Commanders have sought re-notification of Kaleeth firing range in Akhnoor, Bajpathri in Kashmir instead of Tosa Maidan, Mandal Thang in Leh and Lower Khurbathong in Kargil on the ground that the troops were finding it difficult to carry out their practices in the absence of adequate firing ranges.
It is sad that the State Government had in the past made re-notification of firing ranges a complicated issue. The fact of the matter is that the army has its plans and programme, which the Government executes under a well-chalked policy. The jawans who are required to fight on the front need to receive adequate training in all aspects of warfare. Firing with precision is the foremost item of training for a would-be soldier. Generally, selected firing ranges are far away from the rural habitats. Villagers seldom visit them. The army takes full precautions against bullets spraying in civilian areas. Reports say that the Government was not averse to re-notification of firing ranges in Kaleeth (Akhnoor), Dinga Amb (Hiranagar), Khurbathong (Kargil) and Mahe (Mandal Thang) in Leh with riders. However, it made no commitment on Thambri (Bajpathri), where civil and Army authorities had conducted joint survey for allotment of land for Field Firing Range on the land falling under the jurisdiction of PHE and Forest Departments.
An important decision taken in the conference was that after a status report is received from the Divisional Commissioner of Jammu on the land ahead of the LoC, the same would be forwarded to the Defence Ministry for payment of compensation to the landowners and farmers. This issue had been hanging fire for more than a decade and the Union Government made no decision on the issue. The MoD has to compensate the farmers of LoC, whose land is taken for fencing while the MHA has to make payment to the farmer living on the IB.
It appears that there are a few issues of army vacating some of the lands which remained under its occupation for a long time but the same is now required for other developmental purposes. The CML meeting has tackled this issue amicably and Committees have been constituted to study the vacation of many of such areas. The army is vacating the land adjacent to the Jammu University and thus expansion of the university campus will begin. We think this is a right trend and these issues will be resolved soon.
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