Illegal construction in Mavoora Pahalgam continues,authorities unmoved

Sameer Ahmad

Anantnag 27,May:  Illegal constructions continue to flourish in South Kashmir’s Mavoora Pahalgam. The locals attributes the spurt to  affluent businessmen taking advantage of the current lockdown .

Taking the advantage of Covid19 lockdown, people having political and bureaucratic patronage have started raising illegal constructions in Mavoora Pahalgam, despite the high court ban,while authorities are acting as mute spectators,sources said.

They said that Construction works are going in full swing  in Pahalgam ,while the Pahalgam Development Authority is in deep slumber.

Sources said that these affluent businessmen  are taking advantage of lockdown and constructing their hotels during night hours at Mavoora Pahalgam. Few local while talking to Arising state said that rich and influential people are free to construct buildings overnight without seeking any permission whereas a commoner cant go for minor repairment work of his house . ”Law is meant to grind poor and rich enjoy law”,said a local resident.

Locals blamed that the construction materials worth lakhs are lying inside under-construction hotels in Mavoora Pahalgam which have not been seized yet by the PDA ,even though they know about the facts of illegal construction, which is quite surprising.

It is worthy to mention here that last week  Arising state carried a story on illegal construction going on in Pahalgam with the headline , “Amid covid19 lockdown, illegal constructions Galore in tourist place Pahalgam”.

Meanwhile, talking to Arising state, PDA CEO Mushtaq Ahmad Simnani assured action against violators and said that they have stopped the illegal construction work  in Mavoora and action will be taken against the violators, added that they have transferred the employees including the erring supervisors, inspectors, helpers etc. and also deployed staff for monitoring of illegal constructions within the jurisdiction of PDA.