: The department of forest and wildlife preservation, Punjab on Friday took possession of 43 acres of prime forest land in Patiala, which was under illegal occupancy for the past 50 years.
The land is adjoining three villages- Nain Kalan, Naina Kurdh and Asmanpur, district forest officer Vidhyasagari said.
“The land will now be brought under the forest cover by planting indigenous native trees to improve the ecosystem of the land and will add on to the forest cover further restoring the biodiversity,” she said.
The land was part of Bir Kullemajra, Protected Block Forest notified in 1961. After a 50-year- long legal battle, a joint digital demarcation was carried out by forest and revenue department with the help of police, the official said.
The possession was handed over to the forest department by the revenue department, the officer said, adding the warrant of possession was issued by SDM Patiala on March 24.