Rajkot: The largest anti-encroachment drive Gujarat is currently at Kutch’s Banni Grassland, which accounts for almost 45% of the country’s grasslands.
Encroachment, most pastoral and agricultural agriculture, at 540 hectares cleaned in the first five days.
However, this drive in the early days with more than 8,000 hectares is still released from encroachment.
Drive, joint operation by the Department of Forest and Income, is being carried out on the direction of the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
In May, NGT issued orders to remove encroachment in Banni’s meadow.
Apart from the order of the formation of a combined committee, NGT has set deadlines until November to clear the old encroachment in the decade in the meadow.
NGT came after the petition submitted by ‘Maldharis’, a local nomadic pastoralist community.
The petition was submitted by ‘Banni Pashu Ucchari Maldhari Tirihan’.
The combined committee has identified encroachment at 8,760 hectares.
But the applicant’s organization claims that around 18,000 hectares of grasslands are outstanding.
M U Jadeja, Deputy Forest Conservator, Division of Banni Grassland, said that it was the biggest anti-encroachment drive Gujarat.
“We have cleared 540 hectares of land in just five days.
The locals have created a fence established in the meadow.
Previously, they were used to animals here but now they also grow soil during the rainy season.
This must be an open soil to graze.
This A very large task and this activity is expected to last for the next three months, “Jadeja said.
The combined team of the Department of Revenue and Forest began eliminating agricultural encroachment for four days starting from August 23.
The encouragement was carried out from September 2 to 4.
The department has decided to travel for 20 days a month.
“We have removed encroachment in the village of Misriyado before the NGT order came.
After order, we removed encroachment in Pirandiyara Village.
Many Maldaris has begun farming in this land,” said Vivek Barhat, Mamltadar from Bhuj.
A total of 48 villages – have 19 grams of panchayats and houses for around 8,000 families – located within the reserve area.
Thousands of hectares of land have been interrupted and fenced by the local community in recent decades.
Resources in the Forestry Department said that some of the symbolized land had not been identified.
If the job is not completed at the end of November, the department will be for the expansion of the deadline, they said.
The voluntary organization ‘Sahjeevan’, works for ‘Maldharis’, runs the center of pastoralism in the area.
“This area was declared a protected forest in 1955 but the Ministry of Forestry had not resolved the rights of the local population.
According to the law, the claims of the local population have been approved but they have never been awarded the title of land.
If the old seven decades are resolved, it will also help inside Stop encroachment, “said Ramesh Bhatti, Director of the Pastoralism Central Program, said.
Banni is one of the biggest pastures in Asia.