Srinagar, Oct 28, KNT: MLA Zadibal Tanvir Sadiq on Tuesday criticized the ongoing anti-encroachment drives in Srinagar, alleging that they disproportionately target the poor while allowing the rich to build unchecked around the city’s water bodies.
Raising the issue during the second day of the Autumn Session of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Sadiq said that the administration’s selective enforcement of laws had deepened social and economic inequality in the capital.
“For the past ten years, the rich and influential have been allowed to raise hotels and other commercial structures near the water bodies, but the makeshift homes of the poor are demolished in the name of anti-encroachment,” he said. “These actions expose the double standards of an anti-poor policy that punishes the helpless while protecting the powerful.”
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Sadiq noted that water bodies such as Khushalsar, Gilsar, and Anchar are home to several underprivileged families living in shanties or temporary huts. According to him, while these families are routinely evicted during anti-encroachment operations, construction by wealthy individuals continues with official approval.
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He further pointed out that even requests for temporary bridges or basic access structures were being denied to these communities, adding to their hardship.
The MLA demanded immediate intervention from the government, urging authorities to allow eco-friendly, non-permanent structures for poor families living around these sensitive water zones, while enforcing uniform restrictions on all categories of encroachments. [KNT]
