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The Shivalik Vikas Manch (SVM) Wednesday asked the Haryana Forest Department to address the longstanding demands of the inhabitants of the Morni Hills who were affected by an acquisition of nearly 52,000 acre of land by the government at least three decades ago.
According to the SVM, an NGO, the people of Morni are living in a limbo, awaiting land compensation from the Forest department and ownership rights from the Revenue department.
Advocate Vijay Bansal, state president of the SVM, and a few other advocates, met Jagdish Chander, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), to discuss the issue.
The meeting took place at the Haryana Forest department’s office in Panchkula Sector 6, where a memorandum outlining the concerns was formally submitted.
In response, Chander told the representatives of the SVM that the Forest department had conducted a comprehensive survey of both forest land and the territory in possession of the local villagers. The findings had been dutifully submitted to the Revenue department. He also emphasised that the ball is now in the Revenue department’s court to make decisions based on the report.
The land acquisition and the current status
The SVM has been ardently addressing issues pertinent to hilly and semi-hilly areas, including Pinjore, Kalka and Morni in Panchkula. The government’s initiatives to settle ownership and compensation rights in the Morni region gained momentum when Bansal initiated a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2019.
The PIL highlighted that the Haryana government, from 1969, had acquired approximately 52,000 acre of land without adhering to the prescribed forest settlement process as delineated in the forest and revenue laws. An estimated 40,000 people from various Morni villages still await rightful compensation.
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The Punjab and Haryana High Court acknowledged the PIL, instructing the Haryana government to address the matter. Subsequently, the state government appointed a Forest Settlement Officer (FSO), M P Sharma, a retired Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer, to oversee the resolution process.
SVM’s official representatives also urged both the forest department and the state government to repurpose approximately 809 acre of land, formerly owned by the ACC cement plant in the Mallah area of Morni.
They proposed its utilisation for a cement industry due to the abundance of limestone.
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