Sunil alleges Dept curbing worth crores scam of illegal felling Khair at Forest land Thandi Choi

Chandi Choi is creating of corrupt Forest officers!

• The government must stem the brain of that officer who devised new plan to get permission just 6 years and created non-existent Chandi Choi.

jj correspondent

Jammu, April 12: Strongly censuring the Forest department for suppressing the every biggest scam of worth crores of rupees wreaked by officers, a RTI activist Sunil Kumar said that they has felled and illegally cut the Khair trees from the Forest land situated at Thandi Choi.
While addressing a press conference, Sunil Kumar openly alleged that illegal felling of Khair Trees of worth crores of rupees from forest land in village Thandi Choi of Kalidhar range has incurred a permanent loss to the green-gold, which cannot be compensated at any cost. He said that the forest department is hell bent to suppress this Khair cutting scam from forest land worth of rupees crores.
Sunil further said that the felling of Khair is restricted and it can be permitted only under 10 Year Khair Management (felling) Plan in which the felling permission is issued to the farmers on proprietorship land. He said that in this 10-year felling plan, a village is allowed only once. He said that village Thandi Choi had got the permission for felling in 2016-17 and Chandi Choi village had been given permission for felling in the year 2022-23 but the intriguing part of the story is that there is no village named as Chandi Choi anywhere in Jammu and Kashmir but the mischievous officials of department manipulated a new story and allowed felling once again in Thandi Choi in 2022-23. He said that some officials of the department say that felling was incomplete during the permission granted in 2016-17, only because of that the permission was given again, but never in the last six years did the people of this village demand extension of time for their Khair felling. Sunil demanded a high-level inquiry by the Lieutenant Governor as to how Chandi Choi became Thandi Choi and how a village got permission for felling of Khair trees for the second time in 10 years.
Sunil said that the whole scam had jointly committed by the concerning revenue officials, forest department officials and some blue-eyed police officials . He said that the files of the farmers were prepared after getting the permission and the corruption has played major role, besides the files were made in the name of those farmers at the place where there were no Khair trees. He said that a complaint was made citing that seven farmers were allowed to cut 500 Khair trees from their land owned but there is only 30 Kanals of prop. Land and there are maximum 50 Khair trees on that land.. He said that in 2022-23 there are many such names whose brothers, father and other family members got permission for the same land in 2016-17. He demanded that the District Magistrate should take action especially on revenue officers.
Stating further, he said that after the case came in the media, the department formed a 7-member inquiry committee, which went to the spot and found many irregularities but remains silent. It is further mentioned the commits gave a dubious report.
Sunil censured the forest officers for expressing ignorance about their departmental land. He told that with the malafide intention the Block Forest Officer Khour Salamat, Tehsildar Kharah Balli Romesh Chandra and then SHO Khour Ratan Singh Rana prepared a report on their own without getting directions from anyone that everything is correct and genuine only to mislead the people. They informed their higher ups that there is no forest land in Thandi Choi. Later it came to know from the website of Jammu and Kashmir land record that there is more than 10000 Kanals of forest department land in Khasra number 212, 213, 375, 379, 380, 386, 386 min etc. He asked why these three officers made this wrong report and gave wrong information to their superior officers including District Magistrate Jammu and DFO Jammu. He said that action should be taken immediately on making wrong reports on these three.

The Conservator of Forest, Jammu East visited on the spot with its entire staff as he found sufficient evidences in this regard. The personnel of the Forest Protection Force accompanying him took dozens of photographs of uprooting of stumps (destroying evidence), use of JCB Track in forest land, stumps in forest land were seen. But despite getting so much, the department has not taken action on this matter till date.

Sunil has urged the Lt. Governor to intervene in this multi-crore scam and take action against the officers involved in this scam.