Jaipur: Around 50 electricity poles and a large stockpile of stones were found on forest land outside the area officially diverted for the proposed Greenfield Airport in the buffer zone of Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve, a forest department inspection found.The alleged violations were recorded in the Jakhamund forest block under the Rampuriya check post of Dabi range during a field visit on June 24, according to an inspection report accessed by TOI. The site lies in the buffer zone of the tiger reserve, where Rajasthan recently carried out its first interstate tiger relocation.The inspection was conducted in the presence of the range forest officers of Dabi-I and Dabi-II, the Rampuriya check post in charge, and other forest personnel. Officials also inspected a boundary wall built near the proposed Greenfield Airport during the previous financial year.
Power poles pitched illegally inside Rajasthan’s Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve
According to the report, “A large stockpile of stones was found near the forest land diverted for the airport project at GPS coordinates 25.223428°N, 75.730267°E. Around 50 electricity poles were also found installed near Keshar.”Officials contacted the surveyor’s office from the site to verify the location of the material and the poles and obtained the KML map of the forest land diverted for the airport project. “The KML map showed that both the stone stockpile and the electricity poles were located outside the diverted forest land and within forest land,” the report said.Forest officials said no permission wasobtained either for storing the stones or for installing the electricity poles on forest land.The report directed the range forest officer, Dabi, and the Rampuriya check post in charge to issue notices to the concerned agency or firm and initiate action as per rules. The check post in charge was also asked to intensify patrolling and register cases against non-forestry activities on forest land.Green activist Tapeshwar Singh Bhati called the alleged violations a “clear breach” of Forest Conservation Act norms. “The agencies responsible should be penalised for disturbing tiger habitat. The forest dept should not take this issue lightly, as it could encourage further violations on protected forest land,” he said.
