Srinagar, Jan 11 (KNS): Senior AIP leader and MLA Langate, Sheikh Khursheed, on Sunday strongly condemned the Omar Abdullah-led government over the Estates Department’s proposal to construct residential flats on sericulture land at Rambagh in Srinagar. He termed the plan a direct assault on a vital livelihood sector.
In a statement issued to the news agency Kashmir News Service (KNS), Sheikh Khursheed stated that the government’s actions are contradictory. On one hand, it invests substantial public funds to revive and promote sericulture—a sector that supports thousands of families—while on the other, the Estates Department is attempting to divert precious sericulture land and its vital infrastructure to construct luxury flats aimed at appeasing bureaucratic and political interests. He said such decisions undermine both policy intent and public trust.
Sheikh Khursheed asserted that the sericulture land at Rambagh is a valuable public asset meant for productive, employment-generating purposes and should not be converted into concrete structures.
Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel“This land belongs to the people and to a sector that sustains livelihoods. Using it for luxury flats is unacceptable,” he said.
Launching a scathing attack on the government, Sheikh Khursheed held Chief Minister Omar Abdullah squarely responsible, alleging that the Estates Department is acting with political patronage to please politicians and bureaucrats. He stated that the department has completely failed to develop a transparent and fair mechanism for the allotment of government accommodation and instead resorts to land grabs under the guise of official housing.
Sheikh Khursheed warned that the AIP will not allow any move that compromises sericulture infrastructure and public land. He urged the government to immediately scrap the proposal and cease sacrificing livelihoods and public assets for elite comfort, asserting that such governance reflects insensitivity and misplaced priorities. (KNS)