The long-lingering boundary dispute involving Haridwar and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh has finally reached the UP chief Minister’s office. The dispute is over 1500 bighas of land presently under Bijnor forest department which are claimed by some farmers of laksar Tehsil as theirs. After a farmer from laksar had complained of the unresolved dispute over the ownership of his agricultural land the UP chief minister is learnt to have ordered a probe on way to resolving the ownership dispute for once and for all. Sources say that the rivers changing courses with time create such problems.
A farmer from Rampur, Raighati, Brahmpal said while talking to The Pioneer that with Ganga changing its course westward, his land was marked on the other side of the river. “The same has happened with other farmers as well. We thus wrote to the UP CM about this shifting of agricultural land from one side of the river to the other which has created a land ownership dispute. We are happy that the UP CM has directed the district magistrate Bijnor to look into the matter. We hope that the long-continuing land ownership dispute would be resolved soon,” he added.
It is learnt that a joint revenue team involving the officers of both the states soon after Uttarakhand was carved out of UP had announced that 98 hectares of land was under the ownership of the villagers of Raighati, Bijnor and Gram Samaj. Since then, the farmers had been growing crops on the land. The dispute had arisen later when Bijnor forest department claimed the land to be under its jurisdiction and the crops standing on such lands were damaged at the behest of the Bijnor forest department officers. The land had been later forcibly taken over by the Bijnor forest department and the farmers who ploughed such lands for years were barred from stepping on the lands. Since then the ‘dispossessed’ farmers have been fighting to get the land back to them.
Speaking to The Pioneer, the laksar SDM , Kaustubh Mishra said, “Regular talks are on between the Haridwar and Bijnor district administrative officials. The disputed land would be measured on Aril 23.” Notably, on April 11, the former head of Raighati village Brahmpal Sing had lodged online complaint on the issue.