Dangs dist panchayat president stops dharna after collector intervenes

A heated exchange of arguments took place between Gavit and forest officials and Gavit sat on an indefinite hunger strike on his agricultural land.

On friday, District Collector of Dangs Bhavin Pandya assured Gavit of looking into the issue following which he ended his fast.

“I have purchased this land from Dinesh Pawar, a resident of same village. For last 35 years, I have been doing farming and got permission from forest officials to cut the trees on the land,” Gavit told The Indian Express,

However, Deputy Conservator of Forest Dangs South Region Nilesh Pandya said, “We have found that Mangal Gavit has encroached into some portion of reserve forest land and we have stopped the leveling work, on Thursday… We have directed Range Forest Officer P G Gaekwad to probe the issue and carry out a survey work, to get the facts clear.”