A group of 63 retired forest officers from across the country has addressed letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers and secretaries of Environment and Forests and Tribal Affairs, expressing “extreme concern” about the irreversible damage being done to forests in the name of Forest Rights Act-2006.
Since 2008, when States started implementing the Act, fresh encroachments by unscrupulous elements increased under the garb of the Act, which stipulated that the claimants cannot be evicted or removed till the process of forest rights recognition is complete, the letter said.
For political dividends, the regularisation of encroachments was promised especially before elections to local bodies and State assemblies, mentioned the letter signed by IFS officers, including P. K. Jha and R. Sobha, who headed the Telangana Forest department post bifurcation.
