AN influential group of encroachers with the help of some local hoodlums after allegedly bribing the local administration have been deforesting the Bhawal national forest — a danger to the forest ecology and environment. A national daily reported that even the Forest Department could not provide the exact area of the 12,409 acres of National Park that had been lost to grabbers. Continuous encroachments for human settlements as well as for setting up industries are identified as the main source of threats to the National Park. The Revised Survey (RS) was done in 1956 splitting the forest like other settlements that ultimately encourages encroachers to grab the forest.
The grabbers built homes, industries, resorts, mosques and clubs in the lands of the forest. In 2017-18, forest officials recovered 109.07 acres of forest from the grabbers including 71.55 acres on which stood illegal residences, clubs, mosques and madrassahs. Local influential people helped construction of makeshift cottages for use by industry workers as residential accommodations inside the forest. The influentials also illegally built mosques, madrassahs and orphanages inside the forest.
Bhawal Forest Range was renamed as Bhawal National Park in 1974. The Department of Forest was making efforts to recover the National Park’s land as shown by the Cadastral Survey Record, prepared following survey done from 1889 to 1940. The district administration and the Forest Department demarcated the recovered forestlands for reforestation after fixing concrete demarcation pillars.
The forest is the invaluable asset of the country, thus the government should gear up steps to protect the forest from grabbers. With the rapid urbanization and population growth, the essential ratio of forest area to total land would be reduced alongwith the environmental benefits which the forest gives us. We ask the green activists, judiciary, government and the people in general to come forward to protect the national reservoir and thus create a salubrious environment.
The grabbers built homes, industries, resorts, mosques and clubs in the lands of the forest. In 2017-18, forest officials recovered 109.07 acres of forest from the grabbers including 71.55 acres on which stood illegal residences, clubs, mosques and madrassahs. Local influential people helped construction of makeshift cottages for use by industry workers as residential accommodations inside the forest. The influentials also illegally built mosques, madrassahs and orphanages inside the forest.
Bhawal Forest Range was renamed as Bhawal National Park in 1974. The Department of Forest was making efforts to recover the National Park’s land as shown by the Cadastral Survey Record, prepared following survey done from 1889 to 1940. The district administration and the Forest Department demarcated the recovered forestlands for reforestation after fixing concrete demarcation pillars.
The forest is the invaluable asset of the country, thus the government should gear up steps to protect the forest from grabbers. With the rapid urbanization and population growth, the essential ratio of forest area to total land would be reduced alongwith the environmental benefits which the forest gives us. We ask the green activists, judiciary, government and the people in general to come forward to protect the national reservoir and thus create a salubrious environment.
