The Punjab Government on Friday re-issued the notification under Section 4 of the Punjab land Preservation Act (PlPA) — just before the 15-year notification for villages in the lower Shivalik Hills, restricting construction in the area, was about to expire.
The move came in compliance with the Punjab and Haryana High Court orders. “Punjab Government has conducted an enquiry or scientific study in 15 villages of Kandi area in Mohali district and taken action as per PlPA consequently issuing a fresh notification under section 4 of PlPA, 1900,” said the state Forest and Wildlife Preservation Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, adding that the notification has put a stop to the misinformation campaign in the region.
The issued notification includes the area of 15 villages namely Nada, Karoran, Parachh, Maajrian, Soonk, Chhoti-Bari Naggal, Siswan, Pallanpur, Dulwan, Boorana, Tarapur Majri, Sultanpur, Majra, Paraul and Gochar other than the delisted areas.
He said that the Department of Forest, in the presence of the Revenue Department, had made the people of the villages aware regarding submission of their claims or suggestions to the Mohali Deputy Commissioner.
To ensure maximum publicity of the initiative, announcements from the religious places, meetings in villages and advertisements in the newspapers were resorted to, he said.
Dharamsot said that earlier, the Forest Department got conducted a complete study by the Central Soil Conservation Institute (a Union Government undertaking) ,IARI. Delhi and land Survey and Use Noida and Punjab Remote Sensing Agency, ludhiana.
“The agencies, in their report, termed this area as ‘severe erosion’ area,” he said.
Dharamsot said that the field staff of Forest Department not only helped these agencies but also thoroughly conducted checks at these areas at its own level. The field staff also took photographs depicting land position in these areas, he said adding that the entire process was photographed and videographed.
The Minister added that the notification would go a long way in making the forest and the wildlife safe and secure and besides this, the danger of erosion or land slipping and the siltation in the lower regions would be averted to a large extent.
Under the notification, the people having the ownership rights of these areas would not be affected. It is also worth mentioning that the notification case would help a great deal in the ongoing case in the High Court, thus, providing impetus to the compliance of the interim report of Justice Kuldeep Singh.
Dharamsot added that the notification would ensure the continuation as before of the works related to various schemes in the closed areas of Forest, Soil Conservation and Rural Development and Panchayat Departments.
This continuation would result in employment opportunities for the people apart from maintaining the scenic beauty and flora and fauna of these areas, he said.