Excelsior Correspondent
RAJOURI, May 2: Forest land grabbing menace is not merely confined to Jammu, Srinagar or other major towns but it is continued even in the rural and remote areas of the State.
Interestingly, the Forest officials came out for the forced action after the villagers of the area raised hue and cry and pointed out that a large area of Forest was being covered by an ex-serviceman and his relative at Bakori in Kotranka. They started raising structures there and the villagers objected to it and told them that area belonged to Forest. They took up the matter with the senior Police and Forest officers at Rajouri, sensing some nexus at the lower level.
The Forest party led by Range Officer concerned, assisted by police party from Kotranka Police Station rushed to the spot and they smashed the two structures being raised at the site. Some portion had already been constructed there. They found that nearly 15 kanal forest area had been encroached upon by Mohd Shakoor ( ex-serviceman) and one Zakir Hussain, his relative.
Both the alleged land grabbers claimed that they had purchased this land from one local Abdul Rashid, son of Ghulam Nabi of the same area for just Rs 4 lakh. They claimed that this was his private land under Khasra No 316. They also showed strong resistance when the Police, Forest and FPF team reached there during operation.
Conservator of Forest, Jammu West Circle Sameer Bharti when contacted said that as reported by his DFO some people tried to raise some temporary structures in Compartment No 63 of Kandi Range, three days back. The Forest team went there but since there were several women and men in large number and they strongly resisted and did not allow a few Forest men to enter the area.
Today, with the protection of police, lady cops and FPF men, a joint operation was launched and the encroached land was got vacated and structures removed. He said the party is claiming that the land belonged to them but their occupation has been removed and it was with the Forest Department. The party is said to have got stay from a local court. The department will pursue it vigorously.
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