A massive anti-encroachment campaign was conducted by authorities in several districts of the Kumaon region on the weekend regarding encroachment on government lands. The authorities along with the Nainital forest division demolished a Mazar that was spread over 0.012 hectares of land as per the officials. Besides this, the team also demolished a Mazar encroaching 0.0006 hectares of land in the Bhawali area of the district. The team also demolished a Bhumiya Devi temple and a Mazar in the Kaladhungi area of Ramnagar encroaching 0.0002 hectares of land, as per the officials. They said that authorities also sent notices to the operator of some Mazar owners as part of the ongoing proceedings.

The officials also informed that a team from Survey of India is presently working on survey demarcation in Kosi considering which, the authorities issued notices to six lease holders to either renew the lease or vacate the land as per the rules. The authorities have also issued a notice to the caretaker of a Mazar in Kosi Azmat Ullah to vacate it soon. A pipeline meant to supply water to the Hanuman temple built on forest land in the Fatehpur area of the district was also demolished by the authorities, said the officials. Over 300 houses were also demolished in Lalkuan. Besides this, 10 Mazars in the Ramnagar area and one Mazar in the Corbett area were also demolished on the weekend, as per the officials. 

In Udham Singh Nagar district, there are 2,627 illegal encroachments in 2973.14 hectares of land in a total of 116 clusters on government land as identified by the administration. Out of these, the authorities removed a total of 590 encroachments from 38.5 hectares of land in 31 clusters. 

In Champawat district, the authorities have removed 34 out of a total of 53 encroachments on government land in the Pati area while 15 out of 17 encroachments were demolished in the Tanakpur area at the weekend. Also, 51 out of 76 encroachments were removed from Lohaghat and Barakot areas, as per the officials. The authorities also removed encroachments in the Almora district near Kosi National Highway and imposed penalties on the offenders. The local administration also took action against noise pollution and removed loudspeakers from 33 religious places including 69 in Udham Singh Nagar, four in Bageshwar, and three in Almora districts.