Srinagar: Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, Shri Shailendra Kumar has served notices on the Army, the
Border Security Force (BSF) and even the Jammu and Kashmir Police,
asking each to explain reasons as to why they had committed ecological
vandalism, with the massive defacement of a hill range overlooking the
capital city.
Authoritative sources revealed to The Hindu that Chief Minister
Omar Abdullah had pulled up senior officials and bureaucrats over
turning a blind eye to the large-scale defacement of a barren hill range
from Sonwar to Zewan by the police and security forces.
The boldly laid slogan “Ajeet hain, abheet hain [we are
victorious, we are invincible],” directly facing a civilian population
of two million, sources said, was termed “most disgusting” by the Chief
Minister.
“They need to address it to the Chinese Army, not their own people,” the
Chief Minister is said to have said at an official meeting. He was not
available by telephone for confirmation. Bureaucratic sources, however,
confirmed that Kashmir’s Divisional Commissioner Shailendar Kumar had
served the notices separately to the Army, the BSF and the Police on the
Chief Minister’s direction.
Politicians as well as officials were reportedly in unison that the
slogans imposed with painted stones over furlongs of the lofty hills
were not only an act of “ecological vandalism,” and banned by the
Supreme Court of India, but also suggestive of “conquering the country’s
own citizens.”
Sources said that a notice, directly served on Headquarters, 15 Corps,
asked the Army to immediately restore virginity to the hill. Identical
directions under different laws have been reportedly communicated to the
BSF and J&K Police.
A senior police officer is said to have resisted dismantling of a
building housing the Shergarhi police station and threatened the
government through a senior bureaucrat. The officer had reportedly said
that “machine guns would roar” if authorities proceeded with the
demolition.
The Chief Minister, however, put his foot down and got the station
demolished by the Economic and Reconstruction Authority (ERA) within a
day.
He alleged that different agencies and bureaucrats had been creating
roadblocks in the construction of an ambitious flyover between Jehangir
Chowk and Rambagh.
All Deputy Commissioners have been directed to take inventories of government lands occupied or encroached upon by the police.
