‘Strong efforts to crush forest mafia after polls’

Our Correspondent

Nurpur, April 6

Himachal Pradesh state Congress spokesperson and leader Manmohan Katoch from the neighbouring Indora Assembly constituency, in a statement released here today, said his efforts against mining and forest mafias active in his native inter-state constituency would be intensified after the expiry of the model code of conduct enforced due to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

He alleged that the mafias flourished during the previous BJP government and had been playing havoc with the minerals in local rivulets and forest wealth, besides causing huge loss to the environment in the area.

Katoch claimed that he had raised this issue last month and warned the Forest Department to stop illicit felling of trees and following the strict action taken by senior Forest Department officials, the ongoing tree felling had been stopped in the area. He said after the model code of conduct would be lifted, he would raise the demand for financial investigation against these mafias whose wealth had increased manifold during the past four years.

“Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, whose government is working on zero tolerance of corruption, will be approached after the Lok Sabha elections for conducting a high-level inquiry into the illegal mining in local Beas and Chhonchh rivulets, and the illicit tree felling in the area allegedly committed under the political patronage and bureaucracy,” he asserted.

Katoch said he would also seek information under the Right to Information Act (RTI) from the Forest Department about how many trees had been axed and how many new saplings were planted in the area during the past four years in his native Indora Assembly constituency.

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