Even as the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau is enquiring into the irregularities in the construction of Rs 1.55-cr shopping mall at Nalagarh, the revenue status of this land is under scanner with settlement officials ascertaining its status.
Though according to the revenue records, this 2-bigha plot lying in the ward No. 7 of the Nalagarh Municipal Committee was shown to be a demarcated protected forest (DPF) land from 1954 to 1978, the settlement exercise carried out in 1982 and subsequently in 1999 had placed this land under the possession of the Municipal Committee, Nalagarh. The Nalagarh MC had, therefore, decided to construct a shopping mall over it and the process had begun in 2000. Officials of the Forest Department, however, objected to this change of land from the DPF, and the SDM was requested to enquire into the matter.
The issue came to the fore when some locals raised objections to this stark violation of the DPF land. The tehsildar was then directed to conduct a fact-finding inquiry by the SDM following which it was known that the land was a DPF, which had instead been mentioned as MC land in the revenue records.
The forest officials approached the settlement officials about four months ago to rectify the revenue records and enlist it as a DPF land. Since the settlement officials were yet to complete their procedure, forest officials were awaiting the completion of their formalities before taking any action in this case.
Via: Tribuneindia
