At a time the judiciary has gone tough on illegal constructions in eco-sensitive zones, the J&K Government has allotted forest land to a businessman for constructing a hotel in Pahalgam.
Officials said the Forest Department has given no objection certificate (NOC) to a hotelier for construction on the forest land at the Ganeshbal locality in Lidder Forest Division in Pahalgam.
“Nearly 6 kanals of forest land in compartment 34 and 35 of Lidder forest division have been transferred to a businessman for the construction of a hotel,” a senior forest official told Kashmir Post.
He said the “illegal NOC” would set a trend of misusing the forest land, particularly in eco-sensitive zones. “Under the cover of the Gazette 60c of 1944, the forest land has been transferred to the hotelier,” he said.
Under gazette 60c of 1944, several hectares of the forest land were exchanged by the erstwhile Maharaja Hari Singh with the propriety land of local people of Pahalgam before the Partition. However, the Pahalgam activists term the transfer “illegal” and said locals had taken extra land in lieu of their propriety land.
One of the locals illegally sold the 6-kanal forest land received in exchange for propriety land to the Srinagar-based businessman, who is in the process of constructing a hotel there. Earlier, the Forest Department didn’t allow him to construct the hotel.
Official records reveal that at least 33.81 hectares of forest land had been grabbed by 145 encroachers in Pahalgam, which has a dense forest cover. Most of the encroachers, locals said, were Srinagar-based businessmen, who have the backing of political leadership.
“We cannot allow our forest land to be surrendered to businessmen. The fraud of 60c of 1944 needs to be exposed and we will do that at any cost,” Mushtaq Pahalgam, an activist said.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Ravi Kaiser said the land belonged to the Forest Department while the businessman claims he has received the propriety rights.
“We have issued a provisional NOC to the businessman on the directions of the court. He has to get the NOC for any construction from the Building Operations Controlling Authority but we have given clear directions that the businessman won’t carry out any construction till the petition is disposed of in the court,” said Kaiser.
“We are losing everything like the Dal, Jhelum, Pahalgam and other tourist places. Big persons are in illegal possession of the state land. If there is a poor man in their place, you will throw him out within seconds. Enforcing the law of the land is duty of government,” the High Court said last year while hearing a PIL.
Govt transfers forest land to businessman in Pahalgam
