9 booked for violating Forest Conservation Act

In a glaring violation of the Forest Conservation Act 1980,a stretch of road in the Habban area of Rajgarh tehsil in Sirmour district was constructed through dense deodar and chir forests on the intervening nights of July 25 and 26.

In a glaring violation of the Forest Conservation Act 1980,a stretch of road in the Habban area of Rajgarh tehsil in Sirmour district was constructed through dense deodar and chir forests on the intervening nights of July 25 and 26.

No sanction was obtained to build the road from Habban to Madhechi village and further,attempts for which had been made twice in the last one year. Almost half a dozen green trees in the eco-sensitive forests of Habban have been uprooted and damaged in the process. Nine people have been booked for the offence.

The forests in Habban being quite sensitive,the forest department had earlier this year set up a van thana (forest police post) here. The post,however,could not do anything even as a 300-metre road was constructed with the help of a land moving machine. An alarm was finally raised by a woman forest guard,Neelam,who spotted the activity at night.

As FIR was registered today against nine villagers from Habban and Madhechi. They are Padam Singh,Devinder Singh,Ramesh,Kalyan Singh,Chander Shekhar,Ramesh,Geeta Ram,Sukh Ram and Suresh Kumar. Padam Singh and Geeta Ram were booked earlier for the same offence,along with five others,on December 8,2009, said Divisional Forest Officer,Rajgarh,Swaran Singh.

All have been booked under Section 33 of the Indian Forest Act for damage to green trees and provisions of the Forest Conservation Act for illegal construction in a forest.

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