The army has agreed to end its half-century-old occupation of a plateau at the doorstep of Kargil town, marking a rare concession to popular and political demand in any part of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state.

Authorities said the army would over the next six months vacate the 1,700-kanal (85-hectare or 210-acre) Kargil Lower Plateau, also called the Khurbathang Lower Plateau. The area will be developed as a planned township, helping ease congestion in Kargil town, home to 35,000 people.

The army has a firing range on the plateau, apart from operational and logistical facilities.

Sources said the army occupied prime land across the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state, at some places without authorisation. The Kargil Lower Plateau is one of several such tracts, close to cities and towns, that have often had the civilian and defence authorities at loggerheads.

Several instances of such army occupation, such as that of Srinagar’s Tattoo ground, have hit local development plans.Officials said the army had signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday with the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Kargil, under which it would vacate the plateau in lieu of alternative land. One of these alternative plots is located near the army’s Maratha Unit in Khurbathang, some 3km from the town, and another in Mulbekh, around 25km away, council chairman and chief executive councillor Feroz Ahmad Khan said.

Khan told The Telegraph the local people had for five decades been demanding that the army vacate the land.

“Kargil town is very congested, and there’s a dearth of suitable land for expansion. The plateau is only a kilometre from the town. This (the plateau being freed up) will go a long way in helping the town expand,” he said.

“During the Kargil war, since this place was with the army, it was frequently targeted (by the Pakistanis), which endangered the town as well.”

Kargil politician Sajjad Hussain described the army decision as “good news”.

Many in Kargil view the decision as a gesture to placate the Muslim-majority district, which is bitterly opposed to the abrogation of Article 370 provisions in August 2019 and the division of the erstwhile state into two Union territories.

All the political parties in Kargil had last year supported the Valley-based seven-party People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, which is campaigning for the restoration of Article 370 and statehood.

The Mufti Mohammad Sayeed government had in 2015 asked the then defence minister, Manohar Parrikar, during a visit to get the army to vacate the plateau. But there was no headway.

Kargil is one of the two districts in the fledgling Union territory of Ladakh, the other being Buddhist-majority Leh.