Jammu, May 12. 2026 : More than 17 lakh kanals of state land across Jammu and Kashmir have been found under illegal encroachment, with the Jammu division accounting for over 14 lakh kanals — more than three times the figure recorded in the Kashmir division — according to official data released on Tuesday.
The figures revealed that around 17,27,247 kanals of encroached state land entries have been expunged from revenue records across the Union Territory as part of the ongoing anti-encroachment exercise.
As per the data, the Jammu division alone accounted for nearly 14,00,051 kanals and five marlas of encroached state land, while the Kashmir division recorded approximately 3,27,199 kanals.
Among all 20 districts, Rajouri emerged as the worst-affected district with 2,73,848 kanals and 12 marlas of state land found under illegal occupation by land grabbers.
Reasi followed with 2,26,857 kanals and six marlas, while Ramban recorded 1,73,832 kanals of encroached land.
Official figures further showed that Jammu district accounted for 1,45,487 kanals and six marlas of encroached land, followed by Kathua with 1,30,403 kanals and 1.5 marlas.
Other heavily affected districts included Udhampur with 1,19,822 kanals and eight marlas and Poonch with 1,11,133 kanals and 16 marlas of encroached land.
The data highlighted stark regional differences, noting that seven districts in Jammu division individually crossed the one lakh kanal mark, while no district in Kashmir division recorded encroachments exceeding one lakh kanals.
In Kashmir division, Baramulla reported the highest encroachment figures at 81,327.65 kanals, followed by Kupwara with 52,698.1 kanals.
Other districts in the Valley included Pulwama with 42,730.8 kanals, Anantnag with 36,984 kanals, Budgam with 21,775.55 kanals and Bandipora with 20,925.65 kanals of encroached land.
The figures also showed that Srinagar recorded 13,862.95 kanals of encroached land — significantly lower compared to Jammu district, which reported over ten times more encroached land.
Additional districts listed in the data included Shopian, Ganderbal, Kulgam, Samba, Doda and Kishtwar, all of which reported substantial illegal occupation of government land.
The information was disclosed in response to a query seeking details regarding state, central government and JDA lands under encroachment, along with measures being taken to retrieve and regularise such land.
Authorities said revenue records linked to illegal occupation by land grabbers have already been expunged in multiple districts as part of the ongoing drive against encroachments.
