Illegal structures razed at Triund

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, October 6

Following the orders of the High Court, the Forest Department has demolished most of the temporary shops on the trek leading to Triund and on the summit.

DFO, Dharamsala, Sanjeev Kumar, when contacted on the phone, said about 19 shops on the trek and four on the summit had been demolished. He said after the court orders, land on the Triund summit was demarcated by revenue officials. It was found after demarcation that most of the shops were located on forest lands. On its basis, the demolitions had been carried out.

The HC had ordered the Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, to file a status report regarding encroachments on the Triund summit and trek.

Triund summit attracts a large number of tourists to Dharamsala throughout the years. Located at a height of 2,850 metres from the sea level, Triund is a grassland which is famous among the trekkers the world over. However, it is fast getting converted into a waste dump and a virtual slum of temporary structures raised by certain influential people to accommodate tourists.

Earlier, there used to be just one forest rest house at the summit. Tourists had to take permission from department officials to stay there. However, now hundreds of tourists stay at the summit in illegal temporary constructions. Since there were no toilets or other facilities, the summit was getting converted into a waste dump.

Interestingly, some pucca guest houses have come up close to the summit despite the fact that most of it was on the reserved forest area. Hackles were raised when a local last year had got registered land in his name at the Triund summit. Enquiries revealed that the revenue record had been tampered with to register forest land in the name of the person.

Forest officials said there might be more land around the summit illegally transferred in revenue papers in the name of individuals.

Popular among trekkers

Triund summit attracts a large number of tourists to Dharamsala. Located at a height of 2,850 metres, Triund is a grassland which is famous among the trekkers the world over. However, it is fast getting converted into a waste dump and a virtual slum of temporary structures raised by certain influential people to accommodate tourists.