Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, Nov 11: As the Government has ordered a probe into the incident of major attempt of some people to grab over 1000 kanal of Forest land in Jasrota Range of Kathua Forest Division, the axe may fall on several Forest officials of the Range for the lapse and hiding the facts from the seniors.
Following strict instructions from the Minister for Forests and Environment Mian Altaf, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), J&K has ordered an inquiry into the incident of major attempt to encroach upon over 1000 kanals of Forest land in Jasrota Range of Kathua Forest Division. Chief Conservator of Forests Jammu, Roshan Jaggi has been asked to hold a thorough probe into the matter and submit report within a week.
Sources in the Forest Department said that following strict directions from the Forest Minister, the CCF Jammu, as an immediate action, has placed a Forest Guard of Jasrota Forest Range under suspension while the axe may fall on some more employees for allegedly conniving with the land grabbers and hiding the facts from the senior officers. During preliminary inquiry, the fishy role of a few field officials has also come to light.
Chief Conservator of Forests Jammu, Roshan Jaggi, who is heading the inquiry told the Excelsior that after the preliminary investigations by the team of Forest and Forest Protection Force officials from Kathua led by Mr Joshi (officiating DFO), it was found that concerned beat Guard of compartment No. 46 of the Jasrota Forest Range had not informed the seniors about the major attempt of some villagers to encroach upon the Forest area at Porthain Panchayat Halqa in Jakhol.
For this lapse as an immediate action, Forest Guard Ashok Singh has been placed under suspension. He has been attached to Jammu office, pending inquiry. Mr Jaggi said that joint team of Revenue and Forest assisted by FPF men and police visited Porthain village and found that major attempt had been made to fence the Forest and State land by raising fence of traditional thorny bushes.
The team also met the Sarpanch and other Panchayat members and affected nomad families who had objected to the fencing on the Forest land. Mr Jaggi claimed that entire area didn’t pertain to Forest alone. Some of the area belonged to Revenue Department. Some Forest posts were also found missing or damaged during team’s visit.
The Forest Demarcation wing officials and some from the Revenue are involved in the joint exercise as some land pertained to State and the party which had encroached upon some portion claimed that area belonged to them. The things will be clear after the demarcation job is over. It may take 2-3 more days to complete the task. He claimed that after this exercise is completed and exact status of encroachment established, these villagers will be booked by the Forest Department (DFO Kathua) and tried in the Forest Court. The axe may fall on some other officials of the Range if they were found guilty, he maintained.
PCCF, J&K Abhay Kumar when contacted said that CCF Jammu has been asked to hold through probe and submit report. He said the appropriate action will be taken against the guilty Forest officials only after the report is submitted by Mr Jaggi and charges established in this regard.
He said a beat Guard has been suspended and attached to the office of CCF Jammu pending probe. He had failed to inform the senior officers. Mr Kumar further said that there was some dispute also between the nomads and locals over grazing issue and it also came to their notice during the probe. He said a joint survey is still going on at the site and major portion has been cleared by the team while the attempt to encroach upon major area by some locals has been stalled.
It may be recalled that about five villagers from Porthain had made a major attempt to grab over 1000 kanal of Forest and State land including a forest enclosure under Ujh project last week. They had fenced a major portion while the exercise was going on in the remaining portion.
The area falls under Compartment No. 46 of Jasrota Forest Range in Porthain North and South Panchayats, near Jakhol in Kathua Forest Division.
This entire activity was going on under the nose of some concerned Range officials while the seniors were not informed. They only came to know about the matter when Sarpanch of the village and some nomads approached Rajbagh Police and DFO Kathua about the matter. The seniors from Kathua then rushed to the area and started inquiry. PCCF pressed a team to the affected area. A Forest enclosure, developed under Ujh project of Watershed programme was too, not spared by the land grabbers.
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