By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 30 Sep: Forest Minister Subodh Uniyal, chaired a review meeting with Forest Department officials in the auditorium room of the Legislative Assembly here today. During the meeting, Uniyal reminded the forest officers that Tehri Estate had merged with India in 1949 under the Merger Act. The compliance of the terms of merger of Tehri Estate is mandatory for the government. However, it has been noticed that recently the entire Narendra Nagar City has been shown as Forest Department land which is contrary to the provisions of the Merger Act.
The Forest Minister said that about 323 hectares of land in Narendra Nagar was in the name of the king, and the land of the local people, and the settlement of 1964 has also been accepted by the Forest Department. He has said that according to the Merger Act, 222 hectares of private land of Tehri Maharaj and 101 hectares of land should be identified and demarcated so that the forest department land can be properly identified.
The Minister said that recently a committee has been formed under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to identify revenue and forest land, which will be able to take situational decisions on such disputed lands located in the state.
Uniyal asserted that being a resident and a citizen of Narendra Nagar, it is his duty to ensure that the dispute between revenue land and forest land is resolved on a priority basis. He directed the officials to identify the forest and non forest land within 40 days from now, so that the dispute can be resolved at the earliest.
District Magistrate, Tehri Mayur Dixit, PCCF (HoFF) Anup Malik and other senior forest officers were present on this occasion.
