*Encroachments intact; plan to attract tourists in limbo
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 8: Establishing that in-coordination remains deep rooted in the State administration despite serious concerns from the Chief Minister, the field functionaries of the Revenue Department have failed to pay any heed to the deadline fixed by the Minister for Forest, Environment and Ecology for submission of land record so as to facilitate demarcation of famed Gharana wetland in R S Pura tehsil, which otherwise is awaited during the past 35 years.
This famous wetland situated near the International Border in R S Pura tehsil was notified as protected site in the year 1981 and an area of 200 acres was reserved for this wetland, which is abode of thousands of migratory birds from different parts of the world.
However, no serious efforts were ever made for demarcation of Gharana wetland by the Revenue Department although numerous statements were made by the successive State Governments laying thrust on this vital exercise. Due to inordinate delay in marking the boundaries of this wetland on the ground, the encroachments are taking place and subsequent shrinking of area of the marshland, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
The much-needed demarcation of this wetland also received the attention of present PDP-BJP Coalition Government and in order to get this exercise started the Minister for Forest, Ecology and Environment, Ch Lal Singh visited the Gharana wetland area on September 15, 2016.
While revealing that Government has decided to promote varied tourism activities in Gharana wetland area in order to attract large number of tourists and give boost to the local economy, the Forest Minister directed the field functionaries of the Revenue Department to submit the record of State land of Gharana village to the Wildlife Department so that encroachments by illegal occupants could be removed for development of Wildlife Sanctuary at Gharana.
For submission of this record, the Forest Minister fixed a deadline of one week with the directions to the Revenue Department officers, who were accompanying him during the visit to ensure strict adherence to the timeline so that steps towards much-needed demarcation of Gharana wetland could be taken in a time-bound manner, sources said.
Shockingly, the Revenue Department authorities have failed to pay any heed to the directions of the Forest Minister till date although they had to submit the land record by September 22, 2016, sources informed, adding “the functionaries of the Revenue Department deployed in R S Pura tehsil have taken the excuse of shelling and firing behind the delay in submission of the land record, which otherwise cannot be justified in any way as record could have been made available by deputing one or two officials”.
“If the Revenue Department functionaries posted in R S Pura tehsil can carry out their routine duties what was stopping them from collecting the record and making available to the Wildlife Department so as to pave the way for demarcation of Gharana wetland”, sources asked.
Stating that in the absence of demarcation the Wildlife Department is groping in dark about exact area of marshland, they said, “at present Wildlife Department is in control of far less than the area which was actually mentioned in the records at the time of issuance of notification declaring Gharana as protected site way back in 1981”, adding “unless the Forest and Revenue Departments exhibit proper coordination and conduct much-needed demarcation of wetland clear picture cannot emerge about the level of encroachments and their subsequent removal”.
“As several activities planned by the present dispensation for promoting varied tourism activities in Gharana are closely linked with the demarcation exercise, nobody knows whether this plan will ever become reality”, sources said, adding it would be only after ascertaining the exact area of the wetland that several initiatives from tourism promotion point of view can be taken by the Wildlife Department.
When contacted, Amit Sharma, Wildlife Warden Jammu confirmed that Revenue Department has not furnished the record of Gharana village till date. “We have now taken up the issue with the Jammu district administration so that necessary instructions are passed to the filed functionaries of the Revenue Department in R S Pura”, he added.
He admitted that any activity aimed at tourism promotion in Gharana wetland is linked with the demarcation of boundary of the marshland, which otherwise is awaited till date.
Responding to a question, he said that as per satellite imageries the wetland has not shrunk during the past some years. The Wildlife Warden, however, admitted that only demarcation can check the encroachments and their impact on the wetland in future.
Despite repeated calls on their cellular phones to ascertain the reason behind delay in furnishing of record to the Wildlife Department, there was no response from any of the Tehsil level functionaries of the Revenue Department.
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