Acting on the orders of the High Court, the Forest Department has started a drive to remove apple plantation from the encroached forest land in the upper Shimla area.
The High Court has issued orders to remove apple orchards from the forest land which have been encroached by people in the entire state.
The Forest Department has kicked off the drive from Kotkhai and the Kumarsain subdivision. In the Kotkhai subdivision, the department is removing apple plantation from Chaithla village, known for high production of quality apple.
As per sources, around 300 bighas of forest land has been encroached, where around 4,000 apple trees have been planted.
The department has been cutting down apple trees here since yesterday. “We will file a compliance report of the action we have taken in the High Court tomorrow,” said an official.
Shashi, pradhan of gram panchayat Pandli under which Chaithla village falls, says the drive should continue until all encroachments are removed in the entire state.
“Encroachments are everywhere and it should be removed in totality. Only our village should not be targeted,” she said.
She also questioned why the encroachers were not stopped at the time when they had encroached the land and had started planting trees.
“Were the government officials sleeping at that time? The encroachment did not happen in a single day and the sapling did not grow up into huge trees overnight.
The government and its officials are also equally responsible for the current situation,” she said.
While stating that the panchayat respected the court order, she said they just wanted the drive to be postponed till the fruit was harvested.
“We had moved a proposal to this effect in our gram Sabha, but the officials didn’t listen to us. It’s heart-breaking for us to see the big fruit-laden trees cut down,” she said.
