SHILLONG: The Raid Laban Dorbar has filed a PIL in the Meghalaya High Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Eastern zone, Kolkata, against army encroachment.
In a press statement, the Dorbar said the judge of the NGT in Kolkata expected the army authorities to desist from proceeding further with construction work in the Raid forest and Raid land as per the order dated July 10, 2017.
The matter was heard in the NGT on July 10 last and the tribunal passed the order to the army authority “to desist from further carrying on with the work which is said to be in progress. In any case, it is trite from all actions by the respondents shall be subject to the outcome of this OA”.
The Dorbar Shnong said the matter was again heard on January 15 where the NGT observed that the army had obtained no clearance under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, for setting up the boundary wall as most of the area falls within the forest land.
It added that whether public or private forest, “construction raised thus far shall be subject to the outcome of the case and the consequential order would follow in accordance with law with the provisions of the said Act”.
The Dorbar has been struggling with the Army that started occupying parts of the forest and other areas within the jurisdiction of the Raid Laban Dorbar from 2000.
This has endangered the natural environment and ecological balance in the area.
The Dorbar said the army authorities have intended to cut down large number of trees for constructions of army barracks.
In this connection, the Dorbar filed a PIL in the Gauhati High Court, Shillong Bench, in 2005.
The Gauhati High Court, Shillong Bench, in its judgment dated February 23, 2007, had directed the state government to declare the whole area as a catchment area as per the Meghalaya Protection of Catchment Act 1990 and “during this period no constriction work shall be carried out by the army authority in the area in question”.
The Dorbar recalled that last February, the army defied the High Court stay order and started fencing the area and erecting boundary walls, which left the Dorbar with no alternative but to file another PIL with the NGT, Eastern zone, Kolkata.