Major forest land encroachment scam unearthed

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat forest department has unearthed a major scam, estimated at over Rs 2,000 crore; involving encroachments of over 60,000 acres of pristine forest land belonging to the sanctuaries, reserved forests and protected forest areas in the districts of Vadodara, Bharuch and Panchamahals.
Dubbed as the biggest land scam in the state, this is believed to be just the tip of the iceberg, as more larger forest areas in Surat, Junagadh,Kutch and other circles are reportedly encroached upon, but the details are kept under covers by the concerned officials.
Confidential reports about the encroachments in the Vadodara circle comprising three districts, with complete details have been handed over to the principal chief conservator of forests Gujarat M L Sharma, forests and environment secretary P K Ghosh and forests minister Mangubhai Patel.
Highly placed sources in the forest department told the TNN, "Last year, all the conservators were asked by the state government to submit status reports on encroachment of forest lands in their areas. Despite thousands of acres of land being encroached upon, the officials returned reports claiming no encroachment at all in their areas."
The only exception in the "no encroachment" reports filed by most of the forest circles, was of the Vadodara circle which carried out exhaustive surveys of encroachments and recently submitted the reports that have left the forest department in a tizzy.
The Vadodara circle is divided into three divisions namely Godhra, Baria and Chhota Udepur which are further divided into 15 rounds. Forest personnel were specially briefed, motivated and trained for the job and after a survey that lasted six months, they came back with stunning facts.
Findings suggest that maximum cultivation was observed in the catchment areas of river Narmada in Kanwat, Boriad, Panwad and Naswadi ranges and in the Valundi round of Baria division.
The officials also found that a large number of people in the three districts have been given Adhikar Patra (certificates for regularisation of cultivation) without verification by the forest officials. Even after these regularisation, the lands have not been demarcated and hence the farmers keep expanding the area under cultivation.
The officials have expressed apprehensions that the extent of encroachments was likely to increase several folds soon as large forest tracts lie between cultivation''s and further encroachments are a certainty.
Currently, under tremendous political and bureaucratic pressure for unearthing the can of worms, the concerned officials have asked for "directions from the highest level of the state and district administration to provide necessary help and protection."