Forest lands are well defined in the official records of the Forest and Revenue Departments. In most cases these lands are also demarcated on the ground. Some have been either fenced with barbed wiring or demarcation posts have been raised indicating the boundaries of forest land. The villagers living in the proximities of the land have usually respected the boundaries and desisted from encroaching upon these because the laws are stringent and authorities used to enforce the laws without any concession. Apart from this, the Forest Department has a large Army of departmental staffers down the line who are required to keep a watch on forest properties, trees, saplings, minerals, boundaries etc. Senior forest officers are expected to visit their ranges occasionally and gather full information on spot. All this shows that the functioning of Forest Department was practically fully ensured and thus the rich forest wealth was preserved generation after generation.
But the times have changed and this strong and functioning system has been weakened by a number of factors. The result is that forests are getting depleted, forest land grabbed and a general loot of sorts is perpetrated to share the spoils. For several years in the past, reports have been coming in of musclemen with political clout trying to grab forest lands by encroaching on it and in connivance with the functionaries of the two departments, namely forest and revenue. They manage to change the title of the land. This trend has developed especially when the land grabbers have political source that prompts and encourages them to grab the forest or Government land.
The case in sight is of the villages of Porthain and Jakhol in Compartment No. 46 in Jasrota Forest Range, Kathua where a big chunk of forest land measuring more than 1,000 kanals has been illegally grabbed by some villagers. This includes a Forest Enclosure developed under Ujh Project. Some villagers whose land lays adjacent to this huge piece of forest land seized an opportunity of encroaching upon the land when the forest fencing was damaged owing to large scale felling of trees. With some district level political figure lending his support to the trespassers, the latter even removed the sign posts of forest land and began fencing it as their property. The matter did not receive any notice of the Forest Department functionaries because an officer of the local forest range happened to be a close relative of one of the land grabbers. Thus the element of nepotism also surfaces in the case of land grabbing.
It is surprising that no forest functionary right from the watcher and the guard up the hierarchy to the level of Divisional Forest Officer and the Consecrator of Forests took notice of the illegal activity of the local land grabbers and let them have a field day. What is the function of forest watchers, guards, foresters, rangers and up the ladder if they are not able to find a thousand kanals of forest land being grabbed with impunity? Perhaps the matter would not have come to the notice of the public and authorities if the Bakarwals, who have been tending their herds during winter months on the said forest land in Kathua district, had not reported to the Development Commissioner of Kathua and the police authorities. This shows that a strong nexus has been developed between the land grabbers and authorities.
Now the matter has become public and the land grabbers feel that the law of the land has begun to move. The forest authorities are alerted and most of them have tried to pass the buck on to junior staffers. Nevertheless, senior officers of Forest Department have assured that the matter is being investigated and teams of forest and revenue officials will be present on the spot to ascertain ground situation.
This is not the first instance of land grabbing that has been taken up by us. Earlier also, instances of land grabbing have been highlighted. The case of land grabbing in the village Sailsui in Kalakot rang of Rajouri district is a case in point. Since grabbing of forest land has been spreading fast like a disease, we would suggest the Forest Department to think of a viable and lasting mechanism of protecting forest lands and properties from musclemen and looters. Stringent punishment has to be given to the Forest Protection Police unit concerned followed by similar punishment to concerned forest functionaries for failing to report the matter of land grabbing or illegal tree felling to proper authorities including the Sarpanchs and Panchs. Forest wealth has to be protected and preserved at any cost and anybody trying to infringe the laws should be dealt with harshly.
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