Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 6: The activists of J&K National Panthers Party held protest demonstration against the State Forest Department at Van Bhawan here today.
The JKNPP activists led by its chairman and former MLA, Harsh dev Singh assembled at Van Bhawan in the morning and started protest against Forest Department. They were shouting slogans against Forest Minister, senior officers and the Forest department as a whole.
Raising slogans against the Government for dismantling several operational saw mills for the last several years, the party activists termed this move just to harass some people on the behest of some politicians for settling scores.
Harsh Dev alleged that few days back Forest teams along with police and FPF raided the premises of the saw mill owners in several villages of tehsil Majalta. He said that , the forest team had unlawfully entered the premises of a saw mill owner in village Bharnara and confiscated his machinery and tools without any notice or assigning reasons which triggered public protest. He said that the crowd turned furious when the stay order obtained by him from court was disregarded.
Condemning the Forest Deptt for harassing the people, Ex-MLA said that the ‘green department’ unlawfully continued to intimidate the poor and un-influential people while granting immunity to the mighty and the rich. He pointed out that the saw mills were operational in the tehsil since 1995 and even prior to that and several others were running in pursuance of the directions of the courts.
Seeking initiation of punitive action against the offenders, JKNPP leader said that any harassment or victimization of the poor by the Govt would be fought tooth and nail by the NPP and the BJP leadership would be exposed publically besides agitating the matter from streets to court.
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