Government cuts apple trees to allegedly evict forest dwellers.
The Kani Dajan village of Budgam in Kashmir is now only filled with chopped apple trees on the ground and every sapling has been destroyed. A new drive which has been started by the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) forest department to reclaim its forest lands from the intruders but the tribal community who have been farming in these areas for generations now has not been dispositions and not just that thousands of apple trees have been butchered during this process.
The Government has deprived the villagers and their livelihood according to the residing villagers.At least 15 nomadic families have been repositioned after the launch of this forest drive by the forest officials. On the other hand the officials say that they are only removing encroachers.
Right of the traditional forest dwellers and scheduled tribes is protected by the Forest Right Act of 2006. This right has not been extended to the state of J&K even after the abrogation of Article 370 which now gives the state of J&K a status of a Union Territory (UT). This act will only be brought to J&K in March next year as said by the officials. The implementation of this act will give the forest dwellers and scheduled tribes to restore their right to ownership in these forest lands.
The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now.