Several policemen injured in clashes during anti-encroachment drive in J&K

Several policemen were injured in clashes with anti-social elements as authorities retrieved more than 20 acres of prime land in a major anti-encroachment drive in the Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir, a senior police officer said on Tuesday. Samba SSP Vinay Sharma said the joint drive by the police and the civil administration was launched near Balol Nullah in Bari Brahmana area on Monday evening to retrieve the encroached land and also to bust the hotspot of illegal drug trafficking. Officials said at least 40 mud-houses belonging to the Gujjar community were demolished during the drive, which witnessed violent clashes between the alleged encroachers and law enforcement agencies. We have been getting information about the vicinity becoming a drug hotspot, and during investigation it came to light that the SIDCO land is under illegal encroachment. A strategy was chalked out and accordingly the police along with civil officials moved into the area, the SSP told PTI. He said the