Summary:
Wildlife expert Hemant Chhajed said the forest department should come out with classification of cases such as subjudice and non-subjudice.“The forest authorities have been a mute spectator towards the whole issue for reasons best known to them. Aurangabad: Over 4,755 hectare of forest land has been encroached in Aurangabad range of the state forest department and authorities concerned are doing nothing about it.The Aurangabad range comprises Aurangabad and neighbouring Jalna district with the former accounting for larger share — 85% share of total land which is currently not under the control of the state forest department.Civic activist Vishal Pakhare, who has sought details related to unauthorised possession of the forest land using the RTI Act, said that actual figure of encroached land can be more than the official figure.“It is a general perception that the encroached land of the forest department is used for agriculture. We know cases wherein the land is used for commercial purposes such as hotels and malls. Restoring stipulated amount of forest cover should be the priority of the authorities, failing to which would have adverse effectd on Aurangabad,” he said.Nature expert Kishor Pathak accused the forest department officials for having vested interests for non-action against the encroachers. No authentic record of encroached land is available with the authorities making the whole issue more serious,” he said adding that legal recourse would be opted if quick steps are not taken.Latest official records pertaining to the forest cover in Aurangabad and Jalna districts could not be ascertained..