Chandigarh, March 2
The Chief Parliamentary Secretary of Haryana, Mr Dharamvir, has been accused of encroaching upon forest land in Bhiwani. The allegation has come, not from an opposition party, but from the Forest Department.
Mr Dharamvir, when contacted, denied the allegation. However, the Forest Minister, Mrs Kiran Choudhary, confirmed the incident. She said since the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, was committed to eradicating corruption and wrongdoings in the state, she was only following his wishes and would see to it that strict action was taken in the case.
The controversy has erupted even as the government has failed to take back a valuable piece of land, belonging to the power utilities, from influential
encroachers in Sirsa district. The encroachers, allegedly close to the previous government, had taken possession of the land after demolishing the residences of senior officers of the power utilities constructed on it, allegedly with the help of the police. The incident took place in 2004 but an FIR was lodged against the encroachers only when the Hooda government came to power.
However, it is not known why possession of the land has not been taken back, though the power utilities had won the case even in the Supreme Court. Even the main encroacher, who had reportedly weighed the then Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, against currency notes(customarily it is coins) during the last Assembly elections, is yet to be arrested.
The allegation against Mr Dharamvir is not new. An attempt to encroach upon the Bhiwani forest land was made in 2002 also, when the Chautala government was in power. Last week again the land was encroached upon.
The Forest Department lodged an FIR (no 189 dated September 21, 2002) with the Bhiwani Civil Lines police station under Sections 427 and 447, IPC. The FIR, lodged by the Divisional Forest Officer(DFO), alleged that the then MLA of Tosham(Mr Dharamvir), accompanied by his supporters and a JCB machine, came to the Forest Complex around 8 p.m. on September 20, 2002. He allegedly demolished a portion of the boundary wall of the complex, in front of his house(which is in a street adjoining the complex).
Mr Dharamvir admitted that the FIR was lodged. He said since the street was narrow, a portion of the wall fell down when
certain vehicles collided with it. He said the case was registered as political vendetta.
The Deputy Conservator of Forests, Bhiwani, was informed on February 27, 2006, by his juniors that the land of the complex was being encroached upon after breaking its boundary wall by certain persons. He was also informed that “a road is being constructed on the complex land to link with the house of the Chief Parliamentary Secretary.”
The officer, in turn, wrote to the Deputy Commissioner, the SP and his senior officers.
Mr Dharamvir denied that any road was being constructed on the disputed land. He said some earthwork was done so that mosquitoes did not breed in the water which collected there.
He reiterated that the wall fell when the vehicles collided with it again.
The SP, Bhiwani, Mr Saurabh Singh, confirmed the receipt of the letter from the Forest Department. He said the letter had been sent to the Civil Lines police station and the DSP, Headquarters, was inquiring into the allegation.
