Drive against encroachments on temple, Hindu Trust lands

Revenue authorities assisted by a squad of Srinagar Municipal Corporation and police stopped construction work on two plots belonging to a Hindu Temple trust in Barzulla estate last week, they said.

Officials seized the equipment of the workers and sealed the plots to prevent any further construction. They also initiated legal proceedings against the violators.

According to various court rulings and a subsequent government order, sale, lease or encroachment upon lands belonging to temples in Kashmir has been banned.

The Revenue authorities are also mulling demolition of several structures in the area which have come up on such lands since eruption of militancy in 1990, the sources said.

Srinagar Municipal Corporation has launched a drive against illegal constructions in the city. More than two dozen structures have been demolished since the drive was launched late last year.