The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sunday hailed the efforts of the Forest Minister Bali Baghat to get the forest land evicted in Jammu region. The party asked the Minister to extend the eviction drive to Srinagar and take action against all those people who have encroached the forest land in the summer capital.In a statement to KNS, the BJP spokesman Khalid Jehangir said: “We appreciate the steps taken by the forest minister in Jammu and hope that he would start the same eviction drive in Kashmir. Here a few people with political backing have occupied the forest land on the foothills of Zabarwan mountain range and have even constructed palatial bungalows in the green belt areas.”
Jehangir alleged that most encroachments were made during the erstwhile NC-Congress regime as the party leaders did not take any steps to stop this brazen violation of law. “We request the Forest Minister to order an enquiry to look into the role of the officials who facilitated the process of encroachment,” he added.Jehangir said the forest minister has taken a bold step and has shown that he won’t be bogged down by anyone irrespective of how powerful he or she is. “The BJP is committed to provide neat and clean governance and party won’t allow anyone to play with the system,” he added.