700,000 INDIAN SOLDIERS SUFFOCATE THE VOICE OF
KASHMIRIS: HABIB YOUSAFZAI, THE CHAIRMAN OF KASHMIR DIASPORA ALLIANCE
ASSALAM-O-ALAIKUM!
Out of Army’s 66 firing ranges, 12 are in JK
State
empowered to decide on Tosa Maidan: AG
UMER MAQBOOL
Srinagar, Nov 11: At a time when
Tosa Maidan issue has put the ruling National Conference-Congress coalition in
a tight spot, it has come to fore that Jammu and Kashmir is home to the highest
number of Army firing ranges where thousands of soldiers test small arms to
heavy artillery and even Air Force carries out air-to-ground bombing.
Out of the total 66 Field Firing
Ranges (FFRs) of Army, 12 are located in Jammu and Kashmir, official sources
told Greater Kashmir.
In no other State the number of
firing ranges is in double digits. In the list, J&K is followed by Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh with seven, six and five firing ranges
respectively. The
issue has assumed centre-stage in Kashmir in the wake of Army seeking
re-notification of Tosa Maidan, a picturesque meadow in Central Kashmir, as a
firing range for 20 more years with locals and civil society urging government
to open the area as a tourist resort.The issue is all set to come up for
discussion during the Civil-Military Liaison Conference in Nagrota, Jammu, on
November 12.
Official sources told Greater
Kashmir that a Constitutionally-powerful State like JK is fully empowered to
take a call on the matter.Army has asked the J&K government to
re-notify 11200 hectares of forest-land at Tosa Maidan as a firing range.
“Several States have out-rightly
rejected the demand of Army to re-notify the firing ranges. Even in Karnataka,
the government last year de-notified the Bagdad Asmara range prematurely
although it was notified as firing range till 2020,” they said.
Talking to Greater Kashmir,
Advocate General MI Qadri said the “power to grant or not to grant
re-notification is with the State government.”
“The power for re-notification lies
with the State government who has issued earlier notification. And as such
renewal for continuation/ allotment of land is based on a number of
considerations which must exist to the satisfaction to the government,” Qadri
informed, adding, “It is not a matter of right to claim the renewal,” he said.
Officials disclosed that Defence
Ministry has lost nearly 40 firing ranges during the past several decades
primarily due to refusal of State governments to re-notify them.
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