COL B S SANDHU OF WORLDWIDE IMMIGRATION COMPANY AND HIS ACCOMPLICE BOOKED FOR FELLING 500 TREES AND VIOLATION OF PLPA, 1900 OVER 30 HECTARES OF LAND  

Col B S Sandhu

The Forest Department accompanied with a heavy police force and team of Enforcement wing of GMADA in the presence of Duty Magistrate took stringent action against violators in areas closed under section 4 & 5 of PLPA, 1900, by carrying out demolition of illegal construction and by restoring the damaged area in the periphery of Chandigarh in villages Karoran and Masol in Mohali Distt.

An FIR numbering 39 of 2022 with Police Station Naya Gaon, Distt. SAS Nagar was registered on 09-05-2022 against Col B S Sandhu MD of Forest Hills and  Worldwide Immigration Company and his accomplice for felling 500 trees and violation of PLPA, 1900 over 30 hectares of land in above villages. A follow up action to compensate this grave loss on ecologically fragile ecosystem of kandi area was successfully accomplished by planting more than 10000 new plants in the area of violation.

Forest Minister Lal Chand when contacted said that “The present govt. has a zero tolerance towards violation of forest acts especially by land mafia and expressed the Govt's resolve to deal such violations with an iron hand”. The Department is conducting a detailed exercise of demarcation survey in the periphery of Chandigarh in the private/panchayat areas closed under section 4 and 5 of Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), 1900 to ascertain the legality of commercial activities/farm houses.

Lal Chand

  For this purpose, a strong contingent comprising of 150 Forest and Police officials along with officers of Department of Forests, Revenue and GMADA was employed. The violators made a failed attempt to halt the ongoing operation and in fact they threatened the officials with dire consequences like lodging false complaints with CBI and Vigilance etc. Despite these difficulties, the team did not deter and successfully completed the restoration operation.

Forest Minister Lal Chand when contacted said that “The present government has a zero tolerance towards violation of forest acts especially by land mafia and expressed the Government’s resolve to deal such violations with an iron hand”. He also informed that the Department is conducting a detailed exercise of demarcation survey in the periphery of Chandigarh in the private/panchayat areas closed under section 4 and 5 of Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), 1900 to ascertain the legality of commercial activities/farm houses as reported in the media recently.