New land laws: J&K govt transfers 3,000 acres of land to Industries & Commerce department

The administration is wooing investors by opening up thousands of acres of land for setting up multiplexes, processing units, food parks, film production centres and more

Just three days after the Centre issued new land laws for Jammu and Kashmir, the Union Territory (UT) government has transferred 24,000 kanals (3,000 acres) of land to Industries and Commerce department for investment purposes.

Almost an equal quantity of land will be notified shortly following clearance from the Forest Department, officials said. Notwithstanding Covid-19 pandemic, at least 65 big business houses from outside J&K are constantly in touch with the UT government to set up their units.

Read: Centre amends laws, now any Indian citizen can buy land in Jammu and Kashmir

The land is located in Jammu, Kathua, Udhampur, Samba, Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu region and Srinagar, Baramulla, Budgam, Pulwama and Anantnag districts of Kashmir division. While J&K had just 242.25 acres of land under industry, the UT administration is now wooing investors by opening up thousands of acres of land for setting up multiplexes, processing units, food parks, film production centres, schools, Information Technology parks and medical complexes.

Commissioner/Secretary Industries & Commerce department Manoj Kumar Dwivedi confirmed that 3,000 acres of the land has been transferred by the government while the remaining portion is expected to be transferred shortly.

“For the pending land, no objection certificate (NOC) of the Forest Department is awaited. As soon the NOC is received, this land too will be transferred to the Industries and Commerce department,” he said.

Dwivedi added that despite Covid-19 pandemic, a number of big industrial houses were in touch with the department for investment purposes and negotiations with them are on.

The much-hyped first ever Global Investors Summit, which was scheduled to be held in J&K in April this year was defred due to Covid-19 pandemic. After abrogation of J&K’s special status, the government had given much hype to the Summit stating that it would be a game changer for bringing outside investment to the industrially backward UT.

Read: Hurriyat shutdown against new land laws disrupts normal life in Kashmir

On Tuesday, the Centre notified the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of Central Laws) Third Order, enabling a host of new changes to the erstwhile state. Under the new laws, no domicile or permanent resident certificate is required to purchase non-agricultural land in the UT.

The Center also notified the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, paving way for the acquisition of land in J&K by all Indian citizens. Previously, Article 35-A of J&K Constitution, revoked on August 5 last year, placed prohibitions on the sale of land to non-state-subjects.

However, experts believe investors will wait to invest in J&K and would like to see the situation in the valley stabilize. The violence in Kashmir continues unabated which may shy away outsiders from investing here, they said.