Forest Division reclaims 70-acre encroached land

Our Correspondent

Samrala, June 12

In what can be termed as an achievement, the Ludhiana Forest Division successfully removed illegal encroachment from 70-acres in Rod Majri village in Machhiwara block on Tuesday. The vacated land will be developed as the forest area.

The Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Ludhiana, Charanjit Singh said, “Till now, the Ludhiana division has reclaimed over 497 acres encroached land in Kot Umra, Gorsian Khan Mohammad, Haider Nagar, Hadiwal and Salempur villages during the last six months.”

The DFO added that on the directions of Forests Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and with the help of Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Pradeep Aggrawal the Forest Department had started the drive to remove illegal encroachments from Kot Umra and Gorsian Khan Mohammad villages on November 17, 2017. Illegal encroachment was removed from 227-acre area during the campaign, he said.

“The removal of encroachment from forest land will continue till it is fully vacated,” he added.

“The state government is now actively considering recovering rent from illegal grabbers, who will not vacate the forest land by June 30, 2018,” he said.

“The rent will be recovered as per their entries in Girdawri and for the years in which illegal occupants encroached upon the forest land. It will be done as per the procedure under the law,” he added.

The Divisional Forest Officer appealed to illegal encroachers to vacate the forest land immediately to avoid action and help increase the green cover in Ludhiana district.