Villagers are taking to forests and attempting to encroach the land in hope of high claims later in the year. About 17 such new cases of attempt to encroach have been reported in Indore division since April, i.e. beginning of lockdown.
The number of cases continue to rise with villagers complaining of lack of employment opportunities. Many such villagers are daily wagers, who have returned to their villages from urban areas in Madhya Pradesh and other states.
The task is becoming more daunting for forest officials as fearless and frustrated villagers refuse to listen to their argument and often threaten to encroach the area anyway. The latest case of group encroachment was reported in Pedmi that was resolved on Sunday.
Over 100 villagers attempted to encroach 3 hectare land in compartment route 232 of forest land in Pedmi. The large group of villagers were chopping off trees and preparing the land for farming.
A team of forest officials and border security forces (BSF) headed by sub divisional officer of forest department Sandeep Gautam investigated the matter. On reaching the spot, the officials instructed villagers to keep away from encroaching forest land.
However, workers struggling for employment having returned to their villages initially lashed out quoting they had no other option. “We had to convince them that encroaching forest land is a punishable offence and is not the right way to curb their hunger,” Gautam said.
The officials assured them of possible employments under forest projects. This was just one of the cases that have been recorded recently. “To secure the area in Pedmi, we have planted 700 saplings of fruit bearing and normally found trees in the area,” forest ranger Suresh Barole said.
Saplings of fruit bearing, shade trees, neem, karanj, chiraul and others were planted.
Another recent case where a group of 250 villagers was recorded in the last week at Pathan Pipalya area. The large group of villagers wanted to occupy forest land for future claims.
In fact, a secret report collected by a forest officials showed that more than half, i.e. about 10 cases out of 17 of attempts to encroach had already filed claims in the Van Mitra app. Clearly, villagers are not encroach land to farm, but to receive claim as it showed in the report.
Claims to forest land is the biggest temptation for villagers now that they find claimants to become easier and smoother. However, forest officials are continuously running drives to educate and inform them about encroaching being a punishable offence and not a way to earn.
Recently, a villager named Chotu was sent to jail for attempt to encroach in Ashapura. He was also charged for destructions to wildlife habitat as the area encroached included biodiversity rich preserved area.
Impact of encroachment to forest land
Forests are very important ecosystems on the earth’s surface, with its existence the diversity of flora and fauna can be preserved, besides other important forest functions are as absorbers of carbon concentrations in the atmosphere.
Forest encroachment has a significant negative effect on bird diversity and species richness, affecting in particular typical farmland and Mediterranean shrub land species.