Patwari of Anchar not appointed for 3 months, Tehsildar least bothered

Srinagar: It has been many months now that Rafiqa Banu of Srinagar has been looking for revenue records of her ancestral property that belongs to her and her three sisters.

To Banu’s dismay, the Patwari of her Halqa, Anchar, has not been appointed for more than three months.

“For the last four months these people have been telling me to go here and there but no one is helping me,” Banu told Kashmir Reader.

At a very young age, Banu lost both her mother and father. According to her, she inherited ancestral properties along with her three other sisters.

“I was very young, so I knew nothing. As time passed, my relatives without my knowledge either sold these properties or registered them under their own names,” Banu said.

As many of these properties are located around Anchar area of Srinagar, Banu has tried to move an application before the area’s Patwari, but there is no official in person to seek remedy from.

On Monday, when Banu visited the office of the Tehsildar, located in Noorbagh area of Srinagar, with her application, the same was referred to the Patwari of Anchar, leaving Banu once again dejected.

When this reporter tried to seek an answer from the Tehsildar regarding the issue of unavailability of the Patwari, she was told to wait.

After an hour, the Tehsildar left his office, during office hours, even as many people were waiting at the entrance of his cabin for redress of their grievances.

One such person waiting there, Tanveer Ahmad, a resident of Srinagar, said that he had been waiting for two hours in the office but there was no one to listen to his grievances.

“This is my third visit here. These people are taking no pains. Unless and until one greases their hands, they do nothing,” Ahmad told Kashmir Reader.

Kashmir Reader tried to contact District Commissioner Srinagar, Aijaz Asad, regarding this matter, but the official didn’t respond despite repeated calls being made to his phone.

Rafiqa Banu, though, is still hopeful that the government will do the needful to appoint a Patwari in Anchar area, so that her quest to find and retrieve her ancestral properties can make some progress.

NUSRAT SIDIQ