Whose land is it anyway? Complaint against liquor shop puts 2 Uttarakhand departments at odds

To break the deadlock, Tehri District Magistrate Nitika Khandelwal has written to the state government requesting the formation of a committee.

Multiple complaints demanding the closure of the liquor shop had prompted the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to write to the Uttarakhand government, seeking an examination and appropriate action against alleged violations of the Forest Conservation Act and the Environment Protection Act.

The complaints followed protests by locals of Muni ki Reti in Tehri Garhwal district against the liquor shop, triggered by a local man’s murder by his drunk friend on October 25.

Following the Union Ministry’s missive, the two departments undertook a joint inspection. Afterwards, the revenue department said that the land allotted for operating the liquor shop is recorded in the 1931 revenue map as Bainap land (not officially surveyed) under the ownership of the Government of Uttarakhand. However, the forest department stated that based on Survey of India Sheet No. 9 (Survey Year 1935–36), the area on the right side from the National Highway bridge towards the PWD tri-junction, which includes the site of the foreign liquor shop and the surrounding inhabited area, falls under the Reserved Forest area Shivpuri Range, Muni ki Reti Compartment No. 1.

Narendranagar Division Forest Officer Diganth Nayak told The Indian Express that two wards of Muni Ki Reti, which consist of around 200 households, have a contentious boundary. The shop is one such structure. Asked why the licence was provided despite this, he said that the land has been under the control of the revenue department. “We need a survey by the Survey of India to clear the boundary demarcation,” he said.

The liquor shop is a profitable enterprise, since it is on the periphery of Rishikesh, a dry area. The lease was first given for its operation in 2018. In June this year, it was given afresh for Rs 1.81 lakh.

Operation of commercial establishments within Reserved Forest land constitutes a non-forest activity and is a violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, the Indian Forest Act, 1927, and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Further, the Supreme Court, via its Godavarman judgment, prohibits diversion of forest land for any non-forest purpose without approval from the MoEF&CC.