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| Belying govt reply in LC, this man has illegally been erecting tents on forest land at Jai, renting them out to tourists | | ** Courtesy: Forest deptt, Bhaderwah Development Authority | |
BHARAT BHUSHAN
JAMMU, June 17: Belying the March 8, 2012, government reply in the legislative council
(LC) and in alleged connivance with the authorities concerned, Imtyazul Rehman Bhat -- a shopkeeper -- has been erecting tents unlawfully in the picturesque Jai woods of Bhaderwah for the past over six summers now and minting money by renting them out to tourists. Courtesy: Forest department and Bhaderwah Development Authority (BDA).
To put it in a nutshell, it is a case of senior officers at the helm of affairs misleading government while preparing replies to questions of members in the LC.
In the starred C.Q. No 208 of MLC Naresh Kumar Gupta listed in LC on March 8, 2012, the government specifically stated that no forest land at Jai or Gurdana had been alloted to any private person for commercial purpose by the forest department.
It is true that Bhat does not have any official permission to use the forest land at Jai for business activity but it also remains a fact that he has an "unofficial" consent in this regard and the officers concerned misled the forest minister while preparing the reply to Gupta's question.
Surprisingly, no mention was made in the reply that Bhat had been using the forest land at Jai unlawfully despite the fact that the officials of forest department and BDA were in knowhow of it.
At the outset, it seems to be a case of official-contractor nexus. Bhat, however, denied any nexus and claimed that forest minister Mian Altaf had given him permission to erect tents at Jai.
Asked if he could provide this scribe a copy of the Altaf's letter of permission, he replied in the negative, but quickly "corrected" himself by saying: "I do not have permission for 2012."
He even claimed that an ex-chief minister had directed senior forest officers in a meeting at Bhaderwah not to disturb him since he was doing the job of promoting tourism to the area.
Despite repeated attempts, Altaf could not be contacted for comments.
"Bhat has not taken permission from any of the concerned departments but he continues to do business on a big chunk of forest land at Jai," a senior forest official said.
"This is the most glaring example of the officials encouraging private persons to use government property for commercial activities," he added.
Bhat told Early Times over phone that he had erected nearly 26 tents in the Jai forests. "I charge between Rs 500 to 2,000 per tent per night," he informed.
The proceeds thus collected run into lakhs of rupees per month. Going by the rush of tourists to Bhaderwah this summer, there was almost full occupancy nowadays, the officer said.
Bhat said he started this business activity over six years back. Several tourists visit Jai, 20-25 km from Bhaderwah town, every summer and stay in his tents, he added.
"The irony is that neither forest department nor BDA ever tried to evict him, or charge rent of the government land he is using for the past six summers," he said.
When contacted, DFO, Bhaderwah, Manzoor Ahmad Gagroo said Jai forests fell under BDA and there was no question of his department charging from Bhat, or other such people.
BDA CEO Kalyan Singh tried to shift the responsibility on forest department but when dragged in discussion, he called upon media to help his department in the promotion of eco-tourism which was possible only when no write-up appeared in any newspaper against the erection of tents on forest land.
His concern of promoting eco-tourism was "appreciable" but he did not have any satisfying reply when asked how a newspaper could remain a mute spectator to the illegal use of forest land by a private person.
The CEO claimed that the department was contemplating to give Bhat permission but he had also to take a no objection certificate (NOC) from the forest department.
Asked if a possible nexus between BDA and Bhat was the reason behind encouraging the latter to do business on forest land, he said media was free to draw inferences but in reality, none from his department had joined hands with him.
Singh was all praise for Bhat, saying: "I am personally thankful to him for doing the good work of promoting eco-tourism in Bhaderwah."
He said even the media ought to support Bhat for "the good work he has been doing".
However, when his attention was drawn towards the point that Bhat was making several lakh rupees per month through his unauthorised business on the forest land and had deposited nothing in the government treasury, he said, "He has every right to earn as he had purchased expensive tents for tourists."
"My department does not have funds to buy such costly tents for the tourists," he said.
The CEO had many such unfounded arguments to support Bhat's illegal eco-tourism project but did not have a single convincing reply when asked why without any personal interest a government employee would extend whole-hearted support to someone to earn by unauthorisedly using forest land.
When contacted, Naresh categorically refused that he had asked any such question in the LC but said being a local, it would be difficult for him to comment on such issues.
"I do not know about anyone using forest land at Jai for commercial purposes, and if someone is really doing so it is for the forest department to look into it," he preferred to say.
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