Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Nov 27: Forest officers and employees today accused Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu of thrashing and abusing them while they were demarcating forest land in Malyaar area of Sangarwani Block of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
Forest Officer (FO) Abdul Kabeer Malyaar, told reporters that they were demarcating and fencing forest land in Compartment number R124 in Block Sangarwani when PRO of Drabu, Junaid Ahmad Lone along with local villagers assaulted him and his employees and labours.
“He (PRO) tore my clothes, abused and thrashed me ruthlessly. Our employees and labours were also thrashed by mobsters. They were enraged over the demarcation and fencing of forest land,” he alleged, adding: “not only they thrashed us but also stole 50 poles of Forest Department.” He said they had also demarcated 200 kanals of land.
Soon after the incident, the senior forest officials including Range Officer (RO) rushed to the spot and took stock of the situation. The officials expressed dismay over what they termed “hooliganism” and lodged a complaint at Rajpora Police Station.
On his part, the PRO of FM, Junaid Lone out-rightly denied that he thrashed any of the Forest officials and instead claimed that it were they who “misbehaved” with villagers including women.
“There is a village called Nechan Dajan and from 5 to 6 days the Forest Department officials were demarcating land. The villagers of this area approached us and told us that they are living here from past 70 to 80 years. They also told us that the Forest Officials have even included their orchards in the demarcated land. I along with villagers and police went there but what happened is that the FO and other employees misbehaved with villagers and also with women,” he told Excelsior.
He claimed that the police were witness to the “misbehave” of Forest officials. “The people want compensation and they were asking us about this. Instead, the FO and his team misbehaved with the villagers. Police, who were accompanying us, stands witness to whole event. People would file complaint against FO,” he said. He termed the allegations against him as “politically motivated”.
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