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| Political workers encroaching forest land with impunity | | 4,877.62 hectares under illegal possession | |
Javaid Naikoo
Early Times Report
Srinagar, May 13: The much hyped drive against forest land Mafia ended up disappointingly, as authorities expressed helplessness to retrieve encroached forest land from illegal possession of mafia headed by affluent Political workers of different political parties.
As per a survey conducted by the department of forests, around 4,877.62 hectares of forest land are still under illegal occupation of land Mafia in various forest division across Kashmir.
At the same time officials wishing anonymity told ET that they were unable to recover encroached forest land from influential political workers associated with different Political parties.
Official sources said that since far-flung areas remain main vote banks of almost all political parties in Kashmir, every Political leader who becomes the forest Minister suspends action against forest land mafia to keep vote bank intact.
A senior official of forest Department said that during recovery drives launched at many places in Kashmir they were approached by Politicians of almost all political parties including PDP, NC, Congress and BJP to stop recovery of encroached forest land to save their vote banks.
The details reveal that District Anantnag is leading when it comes to illegal encroachment of forest land with around 1885 hectares in its various forest division under illegal possession.
In nearby Shopian District there are still 773.32 hectares of forest land in possession of land Mafias in various division which include Sedow, Heerpora, Borihalan, Kathohalan, Keller and various other division on both sides of Mughal road.
Likewise in North kashmir, the data reveals that thousands of hectares of once jungle land are now apple orchards and maize fields of influential political workers in Jehlum, Rajwara and Handwara divisions.
Reports of illegal encroachment of forest land also include central Kashmir's Ganderbal and Budgam Districts where according to highly placed Source, encroachers in nexus with concerned revenue officials over the years have also got illegal documents prepared to claim ownership rights on forest land.
Officials said that in most cases, wherein action was initiated against the encroachments, it surfaced that most affected areas were bastions of either NC or PDP and their actions would be stopped within no time by encroachers associated with Political parties.
According to official accounts the total forest area of the state is 20230 square kms, out of which 11151.57 hectares were diverted for non-forestry use in terms of J&K Forest Conservation Act up to December 31, 2012. |
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