‘Haryana Govt. creating a picture of alarm on scale of demolition on forest land’

Environmentalist refute claims on forest land

Environmentalist Lt. Col. (retd.) S.S. Oberoi has argued that the Haryana Government made a “deliberate mistake” in the calculation of forest area to ‘create a picture of alarm’ and justify the amendments to the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900.

He has countered the claims of the Government before the Supreme Court recently that its orders in Kant Enclave and Khori Village case would necessitate demolition in around 40% of the State.

Mr. Oberoi, in his affidavit filed earlier this month, said that 40% of the State was notified under Section 3 of the PLPA for enabling protection from erosion and for conservation of subsoil water and did not mean that it was a ‘forest area’. Accusing the State of major and deliberate misrepresentation, he said that there is no regulation, restriction or prohibition placed by mere identification of areas under Section 3. He also clarified that a general Section 4 notification in no way converted areas as forests and the department had never identified these areas as forests in their records.