A hamlet that has lost its peace to rowdy city visitors during lockdown

Aparna Banerji

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 27

A steady train of the affluent city goers threaten to disrupt the tranquility of Kukanet, a forest village in the Shivalik Hills in Hoshiarpur district.

This little paradise has suddenly become a tourist hotspot in the midst of travel restrictions amid the pandemic. Its sudden convenient accessibility for the well-heeled, rather “uneducated” city lot, who are unable to go to faraway exotic destinations, now threatens its ecology and beauty.

Kukanet is a picturesque place with a stream flowing in the middle of the village. It is a birders’ paradise and a haven for those who love wildlife, but sudden interest of city folks in the village threatens to alter the ecology irretrievably

In the five months of the lockdown, villagers had to lodge a police complaint after spending sleepless nights with noisy disruptions and booze parties in their backyard and also getting exposed to dramatic ecological changes caused by a string of leftovers, polythene bags, beer bottles, cans, disposable cups.

According to sources, several VVIPs, bureaucrats, officials, businessmen, and some with their own security vehicles from Jalandhar, Ludhiana and other neighboring cities, were among the visitors to the area.

Eco degeneration starts

Similar degeneration is also being witnessed in other forests and ‘khads’ (gorges) across the Shivalik Hills in Dholbaha, Maara Dam (forest area), Chak Sadhu khad and Narrud among other places.

Despite complaint, no let-up in stream of visitors

In May, hours after some villagers asked city goers not to litter their village, visitors, relenting to the request left, but returned within hours accompanied by 10 to 12 youths, some of them armed with sharp weapons. Villagers complained to the police. The district police now holds a naka at the village very Sunday. However, villagers say there was no let-up in the stream of visitors.

Gurbachan Singh, sarpanch, Kukanet, says: “A huge footfall of visitors to the village was witnessed in the lockdown. Our village is secluded, but they come without masks and often in rowdy groups, big vehicles and playing loud music. They drink, cook non-veg, carry cylinders and litter the stream, leaving a trail of garbage behind. Villagers can no more walk barefoot because the entire area is littered with broken bottles and cans. Visitors also damage the crop by the stream. The stream is still clear, but if this goes on, it won’t remain so. Many times, sound systems blare until late night and when we stop them from doing so, they don’t listen. Rather, they start fighting with us if we say anything.”

“In May, we lodged a complaint with the police. I walked to the thana myself. Later, these men relented and said they won’t repeat the mistake. We also plan to complain to the SSP. Our lives have changed and a majority don’t pay heed. Small vehicles can’t come this deep into the forest. A majority of the visitors are affluent, well-connected people, who don’t care about rules or ecology, it seems,” he said.

Forest Range Officer Jaspal Singh said: “We have been constantly working on preventing visitors. Forest guards are without weapons and a handful of us can’t prevent so many visitors. But the police have started holding nakas on Sundays and signboards shall be put up soon declaring fines for those found littering the jungle or harming trees.”

Hoshiarpur, SSP Navjot Singh Mahal, said: “A lot of people from the cities have been coming here. And, it’s true that those coming to the forests should exhibit some civil sense in the forest areas. We are planning to take some strict steps, which act as a deterrent for those littering or causing harm to the forest.”

Nikhil Senger, Honorary Wildlife Warden and an expert on man-animal conflict, who is a regular rescue worker in the forests of the belt, says: “Only the affluent afford the vehicles — Scorpios, Thars and Fortuners among others — needed for this terrain. At times, hundreds of vehicles are parked in eco-sensitive areas, dams, rivulets and beautiful villages. However, the lack of civic sense in these affluent city goers is staggering and will give way to huge man-animal conflict due to the amount of litter strewn around. Wild animals have a tendency to gorge on easy foods and many also fall prey to injuries caused by scrap such as broken bottles, cans and ingestion of plastic. Animals and ecosystems are changing. Jungle streams across foothill forests are being riddled with garbage.”