Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 8: Led by BJP State general secretary and former MLA, Bali Bhagat and Akhnoor district general secretary Omi Khajuria, hundreds of people from Muthi, Barnai and village Dharmal, held a massive protest outside the office of Tehsildar Jammu against delaying tactics in releasing rent cheques to the families whose land was acquired by the defence authorities. They were raising slogans against the attitude of the Tehsildar and demanded his immediate removal from the present place of posting.
Bali Bhagat, while briefing about the protest against Tehsildar, said about 500 kanal of land belonging to the villagers of Dharmal was acquired by army in 1947 and since then rent for the same had been released after every six months by the Army to be distributed among the families whose land was acquired. He said that this practice was in operation for the last 64 years without any delay and after every six months cheques were released by Tehsildar Jammu. He said the people were being harassed and for the last one year they had been taking rounds of tehsil office but of no use.
Omi Khajuria, on this occasion, said that the said tehsildar had served in Dharmal village as Patwari in the past and after being elevated as Tehsildar he started delaying tactics to harass the people on one pretext or the other.
Later, Bali Bhagat brought the matter into the notice of Deputy Commissioner Ajit Kumar Sahu, who directed the ACR to personally intervene and ensure that the cheques are released without any further delay