The Jagdamba Seva Samiti has lodged protest with the Army for planning new guns’ trials on land meant for cattle breeding.

Yash Goyal

TWO imported M777 ultra-light Howitzer artillery guns, which have a strike range of 24 to 40 km, have been battling for a ground location for their field trials at Pokhran since their arrival on May 24.The Jagdamba Seva Samiti (JSS) has lodged a strong protest with the Army in Jodhpur, claiming that the new guns’ field trials could not be conducted on 45,000 acres land which belonged to Bhadariya Mandir Seva Samiti (BMSS), its office functionary claimed.After the samiti’s objection, the Army has decided to remove a concrete foundation made to place the guns at ‘Bayanadi Talai’ for the trials, the functionary said.The Army has got a firing range from Ramdeora to Mohangarh in Pokhran where the trial could be conducted. Why it was being planned in the BMSS land area where 26,000 cattle are kept for conservation and breeding at a gaushala, he asked.Bhadariya, with a population of 1,500 persons, has one of the oldest libraries with 4,000 seats and over one lakh books and a huge land area for pasture development that was allocated to BMSS by the Revenue Board in 2007.Due to the land controversy, Howitzer trials have been postponed for some time and would be planned later in mid-June, official sources confirmed in Delhi. Meanwhile, a compromise formula and legal angles are also being explored by the defence department in Jodhpur. Till a solution is reached, Howitzers three-month-long test firing at Pokhran remains an uncertainty.