Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir minister Javed Ahmad Dar on Saturday said the government has no information that a former Sri Lankan cricketer was provided a land “free of cost” in the Union Territory to set up an industrial unit and that he would look into it.
The minister for agriculture production made the statement in the legislative assembly after CPI (M) legislator M Y Tarigami and Congress legislature party leader G A Mir raised their concerns on the issue during question hour.
“This is a matter related to the revenue department. We do not have any information, and we will look into it to know the facts,” he said.
According to reports, former cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan’s company, Ceylon Beverages, has been allotted 25.75 acres for a Rs 1,600 crore bottle-filling and aluminium can-manufacturing unit in Kathua.
Tarigami questioned the allotment of land “free of cost” without naming anyone and sought a reply from the government.
Intervening, Congress leader Mir also described the matter as “serious” and said this needed to be looked into as to how a non-Indian cricketer was provided land without having to spend a penny.
Earlier, the minister said the families having no land of their own are being provided five marlas of land for the construction of residential houses under PMAY.
“The land is provided subject to the verification by the revenue department,” Dar said.
He said 498 families have been allotted land by the revenue department under the Awaas-plus category of PMAY-G across the UT, while 442 cases are under consideration.
Of the total 3,673 cases, 2,727 cases were rejected, the minister said.
He said the extended families of the landless are likely to be considered for allotment subject to eligibility.
