Act against tainted political incumbents before harassing poor, gullible: Kundal

STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Raising slogans against the State Government for giving shelter to the corrupt MLAs and ministers involved in the encroachment of forest land besides loot of green wealth, a strong contingent of Panthers activists led by Yashpal Kundal State President Young Panthers and other leaders staged a furious protest against the Forest Department outside Van Bhavan, here on Monday.
Anguished over the hooliganism unleashed by the Forest Department in Tehsil Majalta over a week ago, Kundal divulged that forest teams along with heavy contingent of police and Forest Protection Force entered and raided the premises of the saw mill owners in several villages of Tehsil Majalta which led to public chaos and commotion.
He divulged that the forest teams confiscated machinery and tools from the saw mills without any notice and without assigning reasons to the respective owners despite the fact that they were in possession of requisite documents besides stay orders from the Court. He shockingly informed that village Manwal was grief stricken when one Thakur Dass, a local saw mill owner tragically collapsed and died after the raid by the Forest Department and dubbed it no less than a murder.
The public staged protests in outrage and resented the action as politically motivated in view of local BJP MLA of Ramnagar having made frivolous complains against saw mill owners for vested interests, Kundal maintained.
Deploring the Forest Department for harassing the poor, Kundal said that it unlawfully continued to intimidate the poor and gullible people while granting shelter to the corrupt and mighty politicians.
While ministers and legislators were openly encroaching forest land and plundering forest resources, no punitive action was being taken against them. Moreover, the local BJP MLA had constructed a palatial bungalow in Kail Majalta after becoming a legislator and it was reported that hundreds of scants of Deodar had been illegally used by him in the construction of the said bungalow but the Forest Department failed to take cognisance of the grave crime committed by the delinquent MLA and no action or enquiry was initiated against him despite several complaints. Similarly, a BJP minister had encroached huge forest land in and around Jammu brazenly but the green department remained impuissant to book him under the law, infuriated Kundal said.
Demanding legal action against the aforesaid offenders without any further delay, Kundal cautioned the Forest Department to stop turning blind eye over the vices committed by the MLAs and the ministers as they were not above the law, failing which, the Panthers Party shall resort to severe agitation course. He said that any harassment and oppression of the poor would be vehemently opposed and fought tooth and nail by the party.
Prominent among those who spoke on the occasion included Rajesh Padgotra, Paramjeet Marshall, Khajoor Singh, Gagan Pratap, Parshotam Parihar, Nirmal Kishore, Mohinder Singh, Raj Kumar, Rajesh Gondhi, Udheyveer and Vishav Singh.