The Uttarakhand government has been claiming that it was able to free more than 5,000 acres of its land from encroachments even as the forest department claimed that more than 2,400 hectares of its land was encroached in the last six years.
An affidavit filed by the state forest department before National Green Tribunal(NGT) has revealed that it has lost 2400 hectares of land to the encroachers since 2019.
Forest department informed this to the NGT while filing its reply to a query as to the status of encroachments on its land. Expressing concern over the staggering encroachment figures on the state forest land, NGT has sought an action plan from the department to stop it and get the grabbed land back from encroachers.
Hearing upon a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on Uttarakhand forest land encroachments NGT directed highest authority of the department Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) to fix a deadline for taking action against encroachment along with providing current status. NGT also asked PCCF what action the department has taken so far against the encroachments in the forest areas.
According to the encroachments data provided by the forest department to NGT about 9,506 hectares of land in 31 forest divisions of the state were encroached in the year 2017. In April 2023, the forest encroachment area increased to 11,900 hectares. Looking at the reply filed by the state forest department NGT directed PCCF Dhananjay Mohan assesses total encroachment in the state forests till date.
Dhananjay Mohan said that all the necessary steps were taken by the department to prevent encroachments on its land. Every data pertaining to encroachments on state forest land were handed out to NGT and its directives will be followed by the department and with answers to the tribunal’s queries.
It’s notable that the state forest department’s reply and records filed to the NGT was contrary to the state government’s, including chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, repeated claims that it was able to free 5000 area of land from encroachers in the past around two years.