UP sets up team to free encroached forest land at Indo-Nepal border

Pilibhit: A five-member team has been constituted in UP to demarcate and reclaim govt forest land allegedly “encroached upon” within a 15-km stretch of the Indo-Nepal border in Pilibhit district. The operation, scheduled to begin on Wednesday in coordination with revenue officials, will cover areas from the zero line inside Indian territory, officials said.Around 1,100 hectares of forest land in Pilibhit district are currently under “illegal occupation”. This is apart from over 1,000 hectares where refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) were rehabilitated between 1965 and the early 1970s without formal denotification of the forest land.The team will be led by Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) sub-divisional forest officer Ramesh Chauhan. PTR’s Barahi range officer Arun Mohan Shrivastava and surveyors from PTR, Shahjahanpur forest division and North Kheri forest division have also been included in the team.Copies of the order have been sent to the commissioner and DIG of Bareilly division, besides the Pilibhit DM, SP and commandant of the 49th battalion of Sashastra Seema Bal for deployment of forces during the operation. PTR divisional forest officer Manish Singh has been asked to supervise the drive.Recalling violent clashes during an anti-encroachment drive in Rajpur Simra village in 2017, additional principal chief conservator of forests PP Singh said, “Adequate police and paramilitary deployment would be ensured to prevent any untoward incident during the current operation.”