 Saahil Suhail
Early Times Report
Anantnag, June 30: Under fire for failure to stop massive grabbing of land at Overa-Aru Sanctuary in Pahalgam, Wildlife department on Thursday kick started land eviction drive.
On the very first day, according to Range Officer Lidder Valley Range Overa Pahalgam, Abdul Rashid Wani, eviction team headed by him managed to retrieve over 300 kanals of land encroached by locals residents and Gujjars.
He informed Early Times that eviction drive will continue till all the land grabbed by encroachers is retrieved.
"My team comprising forest guards and casual employees removed the fencing at around 13 places where local residents of Aru Village and Gujjars had encroached the forest land by fencing the same," he said.
He however said that they didn't face any serious kind of public resentment. "People objected on many occasions but we didn't encounter any serious resentment during eviction drive," he added.
During last few years, many influential people have encroached land in the Overa-Aru Wildlife Sanctuary and even have managed to construct structures in blatant violation of Supreme Court Directions. Moreover, around 600 Gujjar and shepherd families are living in the wildlife protected sanctuaries of Aru and other adjoining areas for past many decades.
As per Supreme Court directions and the state Wildlife protection Act, tribal community can neither sell nor lease out the land provided to them. Even if the government intends to construct a road there it has to seek the Supreme Court's consent at the instance of National Wildlife Advisory Board.
The Overa-Aru Wildlife Sanctuary, around 12 km from Pahalgam, 11 km upstream from the Lidder River, is spread across an area of little more than 500 sq. km., with mountains peaking up to 5,400 m. The sanctuary encompasses a biosphere reserve of the same name and is home to rare and endangered species endemic to the high Himalaya such as the hangul, musk deer, brown bear and snow leopard to name a few. |
