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| Forest Deptt officials continue to ‘facilitate’, ‘abet’ green gold smugglers in Sunderbani | | Four houses being constructed in forest area | | Ajay Sharma
Early Times Report
SUNDERBANI, June 23: Officials of the Department of Forests in this tehsil in Rajouri district are unmoved by the directions passed on from time to time with regards to preservation of forest cover and they are providing every help to the violators of law.
Sources told Early Times that some months back a written complaint was lodged by a resident with the office of Range Officer that four houses are being constructed in the forest area falling under compartment number 113/D. It was expected that the concerned officials would take the matter seriously and initiate action against the culprits.
“As a mere formality the concerned Range Officer Deepak Kumar sent his Block Officer to the place where the constructions were going on. He did not deem it fit to visit the place himself and since he is in league with the forest smugglers he allowed the violators to carry on with the constructions,” said sources.
Sources said that the concerned Block Development Officer (BDO) stopped the payment for construction of houses as soon as he came to know that the same is being done in the forest area. It would be in place to mention here that the houses are being constructed under the scheme of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY).
“The concerned BDO acted proactively and stopped the payment with regards to construction of houses. However, no such response was shown by the Forest department officials even though they had the basic mandate to do that. This aptly proves that these people are in league with the forest smugglers,” said sources.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Nowshera, Suresh Manda gave an absurd answer when he was contacted by Early Times for his version. Manda said that media should give a written complaint in this regard and only then the department would take action in the matter. |
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