By giving notice to Dhananjay Singh, son of former Chief Secretary Aditya Vijay Singh, the land owner of Ratapani Jungle Lodge (Resort) near Kolar Dam, the Forest Department has banned any kind of construction and felling of trees in the resort premises. The department argues that the resort is built on the land of the Forest Department.
On the other hand, Singh has expressed his displeasure by writing a letter to Chief Secretary Iqbal Singh Bains. He has told sequentially in a three-page letter that the land has been purchased and the resort is running for 10 years. It has also been said that the department is troubling in vain.
Regarding this, the state government has directed forest force chief RK Gupta to investigate the matter. Apart from Singh, the department has also given notices to 15 other people. Most of them are running dhabas.
Let us inform you that Aditya Vijay Singh has been the Chief Secretary of the state from March 2002 to January 2004. His daughter-in-law is running a resort in the said property of Sehore district.
Department officials say that construction was being done in the resort premises, so notice has been given. They have been told not to do construction or felling of trees until the land is de-notified. Surprisingly, after 10 years of the construction of the resort, the department came to know about the construction on the forest land and notice was given.
The land has been declared as revenue, but not de-notified. Forest Divisional Officer, Sehore, Dr. Anupam Sahai says that this land has been declared as revenue long ago. Therefore, it is also recorded in the revenue records, but has not been de-notified, hence it is also in the records of the forest department. According to the rules, non-forestry work cannot be done on this land of dual ownership till it is de-notified.
As per AV Singh, former Chief Secretary, “the land is in my name. What I had to say, I have said it in the right place. Now I don't want to say anything”.