JAMMU: The National Panthers Party (NPP) led by its Jammu president Rajesh Balgotra on Friday staged a protest demonstration here against former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators, whom the NPP accused of occupying state land but still not figuring in the list released by the government of beneficiaries of the Roshni Act.
He demanded from the Jammu and Kashmir administration to publish the names of former BJP legislators who have benefited from the Roshni Act or have encroached on state and forest land. Among such former BJP legislators, Balgotra named Abdul Gani Kohli, Sat Sharma, Nirmal Singh, Chander Prakesh Ganga and RS Pathania. He said that these ex-legislators have encroached on prime state and forest land in various parts of Jammu region.
Balgotra while speaking to Kashmir Reader on the sidelines of the protest said, “If the Jammu and Kashmir administration has released a list of people including retired police officers, businessmen and mainstream politicians who have either availed land under Roshni Act or encroached on state land, then why the names of former ministers and MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are not in the list, even though they and their relatives are beneficiaries of the Roshni Act or have encroached on state and forest land.”
“It seems that the Jammu and Kashmir administration is trying to defend the former legislators of BJP as far as the Roshni scam is concerned,” he said.
“Our protest is against the anti-people policies of the BJP, which is cheating the people of Jammu and misleading them by raising false slogans like ‘Sab Ka Sath, Sab Ka Vishwas’,” Balgotra said.

TILAK MEHRA