‘The land always belonged to the Govt’

In a bid to calm down unrest over his decision to withdraw claim over the controversial forest land allotted to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), J-K Governor N N Vohra on Monday called for a resolution of all grievances through dialogue and not by resorting to bandhs. Talking to The Indian Express on his first ever visit to Jammu after assuming charge of the gubernatorial office, Vohra said “If you have any greviance, it shall be resolved through dialogue. However, it is a tragedy that the whole perception over the land issue has been wrong. One should understand that nothing had been lost as no land was either taken or returned,” he said., adding that in fact, the land had been there with us (government) for the last 50-60 years on which, facilities for the pilgrims were being raised.