2,000 fruit trees cut: Himachal Pradesh high court says continue to clear forest land
The division bench, comprising Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Bipin Chander Negi, was apprised by the state govt that officials of the forest and revenue departments, under the ongoing drive, had so far removed over 2,000 trees of apples and other fruits from encroached forest land mainly in three villages of Shimla district — Chaithla in Kotkhai tehsil and Sarahan village in Kumarsain tehsil.
During the previous hearing on July 14, the court clarified that the order for the removal of apple trees from forest land was not limited to orchards where attempts were being made to reoccupy govt land.
The court also directed the state govt on Wednesday to file a fresh status report on the next date of hearing about the strict compliance of the court orders for the removal of encroachment in a transparent manner.
The status report must also mention the undue profit earned by encroachers by not only cutting down the forest trees but also utilising the land over the years by sowing crops and raising orchards so that recovery proceedings can be initiated against them.
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The court also observed loopholes in the status reports being filed in the court and the factual ground position pertaining to the encroachment over govt land.
Minister Raises Concern
Education minister Rohit Thakur, who is MLA from the apple-growing Jubbal-Kotkhai constituency, on Wednesday said it was a matter of serious concern and fruit-bearing trees should not have been cut during monsoon, which is when plantation drives are carried out.
He added that though the eviction drive was being carried out on high court directions, he would take up the issue with chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, as it was not good to cut fruit trees when the crop was ready for harvest in just a few weeks.
The minister added at least small farmers needed to be saved. In 2015-16, the then Congress govt took an initiative to come up with a policy to benefit farmers who owned less than five bighas of need-based encroachment by landless or small farmers, but the govt changed in 2017, said Thakur.
Himachal Kisan Sabha and Himachal Seb Utpadak Sangh, led-by former MLA from Shimla and CPI(M) leader Rakesh Singha, have been urging the immediate intervention of the chief minister to stop the eviction proceedings. They have also given a call to gherao the Himachal Pradesh Secretariat in Shimla on July 29.
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