‘Haryana Govt. creating a picture of alarm on scale of demolition on forest land’
The Hindu
Environmentalist refute claims on forest land
Environmentalist Lt. Col. (retd.) S.S. Oberoi has argued that the Haryana Government made a “deliberate mistake” in the calculation of forest area to ‘create a picture of alarm’ and justify the amendments to the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900.
He has countered the claims of the Government before the Supreme Court recently that its orders in Kant Enclave and Khori Village case would necessitate demolition in around 40% of the State.
Mr. Oberoi, in his affidavit filed earlier this month, said that 40% of the State was notified under Section 3 of the PLPA for enabling protection from erosion and for conservation of subsoil water and did not mean that it was a ‘forest area’. Accusing the State of major and deliberate misrepresentation, he said that there is no regulation, restriction or prohibition placed by mere identification of areas under Section 3. He also clarified that a general Section 4 notification in no way converted areas as forests and the department had never identified these areas as forests in their records.
Hampi, the UNESCO-recognised historical site, was the capital of the Vijayanagara empire from 1336 to 1565. Foreign travellers from Persia, Europe and other parts of the world have chronicled the wealth of the place and the unique cultural mores of this kingdom built on the banks of the Tungabhadra river. There are fine descriptions to be found of its temples, farms, markets and trading links, remnants of which one can see in the ruins now. The Literature, architecture of this era continue inspire awe.
Unfurling the zine handed to us at the start of the walk, we use brightly-coloured markers to draw squiggly cables across the page, starting from a sepia-toned vintage photograph of the telegraph office. Iz, who goes by the pronouns they/them, explains, “This building is still standing, though it shut down in 2013,” they say, pointing out that telegraphy, which started in Bengaluru in 1854, was an instrument of colonial power and control. “The British colonised lands via telegraph cables, something known as the All Red Line.”