E-Paper
Mohali: Four booked for digging forest land to lay pipeline in Kharar
The FIR, registered at Kharar police station names Rora sarpanch Kuljeet Singh, Jarnail Singh, Darbara Singh and Gurminder Singh
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Kharar police have booked four people, including the sarpanch and two panches of Rora village, for allegedly excavating a notified forest strip along the Kharar-Gharuan road to lay a pipeline without permission.
The FIR, registered at Kharar police station names Rora sarpanch Kuljeet Singh, Jarnail Singh, Darbara Singh and Gurminder Singh. Police have also named a JCB machine (PB 10DK 4090) allegedly used for the excavation.
The case follows a complaint by the divisional forest officer (DFO), Mohali, based on an inspection report submitted by the forest range officer on September 12. According to the complaint, the JCB was deployed on the forest strip in Rora village to dig up land for laying a pipeline. The department alleged that the work amounted to a non-forest activity on notified forest land and that the accused had not obtained the required permission.
The complaint states that forest officials intervened and asked the operator to stop the excavation. However, Jarnail Singh allegedly confronted the staff, misbehaved with them and refused to stop the machine, obstructing them from performing their duties.
The forest department also alleged that officials contacted the accused on several occasions and asked them to stop the work and pay the penalty or compensation for the damage to the forest strip. The accused allegedly failed to comply.
The DFO subsequently approached the Mohali senior superintendent of police, seeking registration of a case against the four people and action against the JCB to recover the damages.
Kharar police registered the FIR under Section 33 of the Indian Forest Act, Sections 2 and 3A of the Forest (Conservation) Act, and Sections 132, 221 and 329 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The BNS provisions relate to assault or use of criminal force to deter a public servant, obstruction of a public servant in discharge of public functions and criminal trespass.
