JAMMU, OCTOBER 2: Rohingya settlements in Jammu’s Narwal area are rapidly disappearing after the district administration initiated action against landowners accused of allowing agricultural land to be used for unauthorised residential and commercial purposes.
A ground report by DD News Jammu shows Rohingya families dismantling temporary huts, removing roofing sheets and packing their belongings as they leave settlements where many had lived for years.
The action has centred on landowners rather than direct demolition of the structures by the administration. Plot owners were served notices over the use of agricultural land for residential and commercial purposes and subsequently asked Rohingya families occupying their properties to vacate.
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Independent reporting confirms that the process began in Narwal in mid-September. Families were seen dismantling huts and shops in the Karyani Talab and Burma Colony areas after their landlords received notices from the Jammu administration.
The notices were issued under Section 133-A of the Jammu and Kashmir Land Revenue Act, 1996, which prohibits unauthorised conversion or use of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. Revenue officials said land designated for agriculture could not legally be sub-let for residential use.
The Narwal action reportedly covers around 40 kanals of agricultural land. India Today reported that several settlements had already been cleared as families dismantled their structures and moved their belongings, while plot owners were warned against allowing fresh settlements to emerge on their properties.
Some Rohingya residents said they had been given only a few days by landlords to leave and did not know where they would relocate. Reports from Burma Colony put the number of families in one settlement at around 70 to 80, while estimates vary considerably across the wider Narwal area.
The action is not confined to Narwal.
Authorities subsequently served notices on landowners in Bhalwal, where around 50 Rohingya families were reported to be living on privately owned land. Those notices similarly invoked provisions against the unauthorised non-agricultural use of agricultural land and warned of further legal action for non-compliance.
The administration’s move follows increased scrutiny of Rohingya and other foreign nationals living in Jammu and Kashmir.
A high-level committee examining demographic changes visited Rohingya settlements in Narwal in August as part of a wider assessment. Government data presented to the committee identified 7,656 Rohingyas in Jammu and Kashmir, including 6,737 in the Jammu region and 919 in the Kashmir Valley, according to reporting on the committee’s work.
The presence of Rohingyas in Jammu has been a contentious issue for years, combining questions of immigration status, security, land use and humanitarian concerns.
Many Rohingya families arrived in Jammu after fleeing persecution in Myanmar and have lived in makeshift settlements for years, surviving largely through daily-wage work, scrap collection and other informal employment. Some possess documents issued by the UN refugee agency, but Indian authorities do not treat those documents as conferring a legal right to remain in the country.
The latest action, however, is specifically grounded in land-use violations by property owners rather than being formally described as a deportation exercise.
That distinction is important. The administration has served notices on the owners of agricultural plots, requiring them to stop unauthorised residential and commercial use. The landlords have then directed the Rohingya occupants to dismantle their structures and leave.
The immediate effect is nevertheless clearly visible on the ground.
Settlements that had existed for years are being dismantled, huts and shops are disappearing and families are moving out with their possessions. What remains less clear is where those leaving Narwal are relocating.
Reports indicate that security agencies are watching for the possibility of displaced families moving to other parts of Jammu, including areas around Sunjwan and Bathindi, while property owners have been warned against permitting new unauthorised settlements.
The Narwal developments therefore represent more than the removal of a handful of temporary structures. They mark a broader administrative effort to enforce land-use rules against long-established informal settlements and prevent their re-emergence elsewhere.
For the families dismantling their homes, the immediate issue is where they will live next. For the administration, the next challenge will be ensuring that clearing one unauthorised settlement does not simply result in another emerging elsewhere in Jammu.
