Over 4.7k hectare of forest land under encroachment

  • | Thursday | 13th December, 2018

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.

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. 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. The total forest area of Maharashtra at the end of the year 2016-17 was 61,724sqkm (provisional) constituting about 20.06 % of the geographical area of the state as against the target 33% under the National Forest Policy, 1988.The forest cover of Aurangabad range is believed to be lower than the state average with large-scale encroachments being one of the reasons.When contacted, deputy conservator of forest (Aurangabad range) S P Wadaskar on Saturday said legal cases and other issues were roadblocks in removing the encroachments.“In some of the cases, the matter has become subjudice as miscreants have approached the court and even sought interim stay. In other cases, people resort to all sorts of tactics to threaten and pressure us to dissuade from taking legal action,” he said.Admitting that the actual record of encroachment vary from the official figures, Wadaskar said a joint exercise needs to be undertaken to arrive at the figure of encroached land of the forest department.Experts and activists, however, refused to buy the explanation furnished by the senior forest department official. 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. 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.

If You Like This Story, Support NYOOOZ

NYOOOZ SUPPORTER

NYOOOZ FRIEND

Your support to NYOOOZ will help us to continue create and publish news for and from smaller cities, which also need equal voice as much as citizens living in bigger cities have through mainstream media organizations.


Stay updated with all the Latest Aurangabad headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.

Related Articles