Early Times Report
Kishtwar, Dec 7: The members of Movement for Peace, Equality & Justice Kuldeep Kumar Rao, Ram Singh Chauhan , Yog Raj Sharma & Behari Lal Bhagat, feel deeply worried that the rampant forest fires that are raging these days in Kishtwar, Bhadarwah and Marmat areas of erstwhile District Doda are a matter of great concern. These are due to not only negligence but also willful negligence. The people do damage to forest by felling threes illegally and then in order to put a cover on their crime, they burn the remains of the damage & thus cause major fires. Moreover, the people who have captured forest land and made it cultivable, deliberately put the forest on fire so that the new saplings that grow naturally get destroyed thus facilitating their further encroachment. Ironically such people were encouraged by the previous governments. On the one hand, government is spending cores of rupees to plant new nurseries but on the other hand unscrupulous people are destroying the naturally growing saplings of deodar & Chir trees. As the forest department is now under an honest, well-intentioned & dynamic Minister, we hope that an effective check will be put on such, covert activities. The members of Movement for Peace, Equality & Justice appealed the Forest Minister, Choudhary Lal Singh to pay a personal visit to these areas immediately and try to find out who the culprits are so that they are brought to book. The green gold must be saved at all costs. The Minister has already done a commendable job so far as retrieving of encroached forest land is concerned. Let him now probe & prevent forest fires, people have high hopes from him. |
