Shivalik hills up for sale?

Dealers illegally carve out farmhouse sites after levelling hillocks

Mirzapur (Kurali), March 25
On the pretext of levelling agricultural land that has been freed (de-listed) from the provisions of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), 1900, unscrupulous property dealers have virtually put the eco-fragile Shivalik hills here for sale.
In a bid to make quick money, the land mafia is selling farmhouse sites to outsiders after cutting undulating hillocks. The investors are being taken for a ride as they are being sold the land that cannot be fragmented under the latest guidelines of the Revenue Department. Moreover, the nature of the land in the forest area cannot be changed. But at certain places there were traces of uprooting of trees in complete violation of the Forest Conservation Act (FCA).
In connivance with villagers, property dealers have started levelling small areas on both sides of a seasonal rivulet, which passes through the Shivalik hills. A visit to the site revealed that locals had been engaged in levelling of small chunks of land and huts were being erected.
To lure outsiders, milestones painted in white have been erected on both sides of the paths leading to the farmhouse sites. Some of the investors were being shown a site plan with a promise that in a few months a metalled road would be constructed to the farmhouse sites.
Revenue officials at Majri tehsil said that shares of local residents in the forest area were being illegally transferred despite a ban on it.
Divisional Forest Officer, Mohali, Vishal Chauhan said after the issue came to his notice, a particular property dealer had been stopped from doing any illegal activity. He claimed that no violation had taken place in the area under the PLPA. The claim of landowners that their land had been de-listed was being verified.
Activities such as felling of trees, construction, levelling of land, laying of new roads, etc stand banned in the area under the Indian Forest Act, 1927, Forest Control Act, 1980, and the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900. Also, these Acts empower forest officials not only to stop construction work, but even arrest violators, if any, and confiscate their machinery.
Locals lament that despite complaints, forest officials were adopting a wait and watch policy and were not acting against property dealers who were flouting rules and could be seen roaming in the area.
Last year, the Forest Department was caught napping when a politician-turned-property dealer had carved out roads for farmhouse sites in Majri block comprising five villages - Bhagindi, Gurdha, Kasauli, Jyanti Majri and Karaundewala.
"It is a systematic scam in which unscrupulous elements in connivance with revenue officials are tampering with land records to encroach upon others' share and then level hillocks for monetary gains. It cannot happen without the blessings of politicians and senior officers," said a local resident.