Abodh Sharma
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Dec 2: The establishment of proposed IIT in Jammu has hit a road block at the very inception as the Forest Department has turned down the demand of the department of Higher Education seeking 3500 kanals of forest land in Jagti area of Nagrota.
Sources in the Forest Department divulged that department of Higher Education had identified Jagti area for the construction of proposed Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Jammu, for which it has demanded 3500 kanals of land, but the demand has been turned down by the forest authorities in view of the serious impact it shall have on the ecology of the area.
"Forest land can be acquired for projects of such vital public significance, but there are guidelines that lay that all other options should be explored before making such a move" said a senior Forest Officer pleading anonymity. "In this case no serious attempt has been made to identify required land in other areas, which are not under green cover," he added.
"Prudence lies in establishing such a huge project at barren land, which cannot be put to other use. In the existing circumstances when whole world is concerned over environmental degradation, establishment of IIT in such a huge chunk of forest land shall be ruthless. It shall not only seriously affect the ecological balance, but also trigger a dangerous man-animal conflict in the area" added another forest officer.
According to the existing guidelines, forest land if acquired has to be replenished with same dimension of land, which is eventually brought under green cover, however, forest authorities told Early Times that on one hand thousands of acres of forest land has been encroached upon by politicians, police officers and common people in connivance with revenue and forest officials, on the other, land allocated to Forest Department in exchange of acquired forest land is generally such, that cannot be brought under green cover under any circumstances.
"We are not averse to such a prestigious project coming up in Jammu, but it is important for all of us to protect our forests at all costs as they guarantee life to our coming generations" the officer said emphasizing that our planners must focus on judicious land use, both in terms of quality and quantity. |
