MUZAFFARABAD, Nov 27: Some people, backed by some political leaders, have been creating hurdles for the last two years in the development of a tourist resort on the outskirts of the AJK capital taking advantage of flaws in the judicial system, Dawn has reliably learnt.
The resort is being built by the AJK tourism department at Saran, off Pir Chinasi, and it includes a two-story rest house, metalled link road, swings, see-saws and other playing facilities for children. But, the group has marred the execution of the project with different tactics, mainly litigation.
Saran is located 21km east of Muzaffarabad at an altitude of about 7,000 feet and is about an hour’s drive from the capital.
The government had leased out 400 kanal land (Khasra Nos 338, 339) to the Development Authority Muzaffarabad (DAM) in Pir Chinasi some time back. Some locals went into litigation against the government decision on the grounds that the land belonged to them.
However, almost all lower courts rejected their plea and the Supreme Court also held in November 1997 that “any Nutore area, which is likely to be acquired for any government purpose or common village purpose, shall not be regularised.”
The tourism department acquired 10 kanal and 10 marla land from the DAM in July 1999 in Khasra No338 to develop a tourist resort.
Construction of the rest house was initiated and around 12,000 feet long lines were laid by the department to bring potable water from a spring to the resort.
However, the group again went into litigation. Since July 1999, they have been getting stay orders from the courts. The department got vacated the stay orders but those affected the pace of the work.
The litigants from a particular group file the cases in turns using different names. According to sources, some influential leaders of the Muslim Conference, who are said to be close relatives of a minister from Muzaffarabad, are backing the group.
On Nov 23, Muzaffarabad senior civil judge dismissed another plea for stay order and wrote in his judgement that “some people were inflicting loss on the nation by litigating with changed names, and in this process were also ridiculing the courts.”
However, on Nov 24, the district and sessions judge, just a day ahead of his retirement, again granted stay orders without hearing the viewpoint of the tourism department.
Apart from litigation, the opponents of the project have also caused obstacles in the construction process, including alleged material losses. They damaged the water tank and the building of the rest house and uprooted at least 500 feet water pipes.
But the police, it was learnt, were not taking action against the culprits, although the offences were brought into their notice by the department.
Because of the problems, the department had to surrender portions of its development budgets in 1999-2000 and 2000-01. If there is no change in the situation, its Rs4.7 million development budget for the ongoing fiscal year would also lapse.