{"id":170710,"date":"2025-03-12T11:15:19","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T06:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/?p=170710"},"modified":"2025-03-12T11:53:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T06:53:59","slug":"iiojk-farmers-fear-for-survival-as-india-pushes-for-satellite-townships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/2025\/03\/12\/iiojk-farmers-fear-for-survival-as-india-pushes-for-satellite-townships.html","title":{"rendered":"IIOJK farmers fear for survival as India pushes for \u2018satellite\u2019 townships"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-170711\" src=\"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/03\/IMG-20241202-WA0036.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" \/>Srinagar: In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, revelations about India\u2019s plan to convert thousands of kanals of agricultural land into so-called satellite townships have triggered outrage among local farmers, who see the move as an Israeli-style assault on their livelihood.<\/p>\n<p>According to Kashmir Media Service, official data from the Housing and Urban Development Department revealed that authorities have identified approximately 1,298.28 kanals (65.66 hectares) of land across Pulwama, Bandipora, Jammu, Kathua, Srinagar, Ganderbal, and Poonch districts for housing projects.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the Srinagar Development Authority has earmarked 3,000 kanals along the highway bypass in Bemina for \u201cfuture housing development.\u201d The plan, which farmers see as a sinister agenda to deprive them of their only means of survival, has been met with strong resistance. The proposed housing colonies include major projects in Pulwama, Bandipora, Srinagar, Ganderbal, Jammu, Kathua, and Poonch, with large portions of agricultural land set to be converted into concrete structures.<\/p>\n<p>Farmers fear the move is part of a broader strategy by the Modi-led Indian government to dispossess Kashmiris of their land and resources, similar to Israel\u2019s actions in Palestine. Many, like 63-year-old saffron farmer Bashir Ahmad Dar from Pampore, have already lost land to previous projects and now face further displacement. \u201cThis land fed us for generations. Now they want to take away whatever remains,\u201d Dar lamented.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, in December, hundreds of farmers protested against the Modi regime\u2019s decision to acquire agricultural land for satellite townships. The move has also raised environmental concerns, as converting karewa land\u2014known for saffron, almonds, and apples\u2014into concrete settlements threatens Kashmir\u2019s fragile agricultural economy.<\/p>\n<p>People\u2019s Democratic Party spokesperson Mehboob Beg demanded clarity on whether the housing units will be allocated to locals or settlers from outside the territory.<\/p>\n<p>It is worth mentioning that Indian army and agencies are actively facilitating this land grab, with the trend escalating alarmingly under the BJP regime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Srinagar: In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, revelations about India\u2019s plan to convert thousands of kanals of agricultural land into so-called satellite townships have triggered outrage among local farmers, who see the move as an Israeli-style assault on their livelihood. According to Kashmir Media Service, official data from the Housing and Urban Development Department &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":170711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-170710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-statements-form-kashmir","tag-top-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/03\/IMG-20241202-WA0036.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170712,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170710\/revisions\/170712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}