Srinagar, May 20: People’s Conference president Sajad Gani Lone on Wednesday said the enquiry ordered by the Jammu and Kashmir government into violation of the Forest Rights Act during a demolition drive in Jammu was a mere eyewash.
He said the probe will serve its purpose only if the affected people’s claims under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) are pending.
“The National Conference-led government’s move to order an enquiry into and report on any violation of the Forest Rights Act during the demolition drive in Jammu is a mere eyewash, similar to thousands of magisterial probes ordered into civilian killings in Jammu and Kashmir during the last three decades to calm public anger,” Lone said on X.
He said it would not have taken the government more than 10 minutes to find out if there had been a violation of the FRA.
“Why seven days’ time for something that would have been established in 10 minutes? My understanding is that the demolition of houses will constitute a violation of the FRA if their claims for individual or community rights are pending,” he said.
Quoting Sub-section (5) of Section 4 of the Forest Rights Act, Lone said that if people from the Scheduled Tribe or Other Traditional Forest Dweller category are living or farming on forest land, the government cannot evict or demolish their houses until the recognition and verification procedure is complete and the FRA claims are fully rejected after due process.
“This is yet another denial and passing the buck. Don’t be surprised. If the government in the assembly will pay itself on the back for setting up the enquiry committee and also defends the demolition, I will not be surprised. Nothing about this government surprises me,” he added.
Police and the forest department on Tuesday carried out an anti-encroachment drive in the outskirts of Jammu city and demolished around 20-30 structures to retrieve nearly 60 kanals of prime forest land in the Raika Bandi forest belt of the lower Shivalik range.
The affected families had staged protests against the action and termed the demolition drive “unjustified”. They had alleged that the drive was carried out without any prior notice. (Agencies)
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