Stolen Defence lands | The property mafia
In February 2024, Colonel Anuj Antal, the administrative commandant of the army cantonment in the border town of Ferozepur, Punjab, wrote to then governor Banwarilal Purohit, seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry and the registration of an FIR against district revenue officials for forging records pertaining to 15 acres of land belonging to the military. His allegation: that the piece of land outside the cantonment known as Jahaz Ground—once an emergency airfield for the Indian Air Force (IAF) used as camouflaging ground for weaponry during the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars—had been sold off to private individuals, compromising security near the India-Pakistan border. This is not an isolated incident, across India, land owned by the armed forces—spread across prime locat...