Seb Utpadak Sangh, CPM condemn evictions and felling of Apple trees amid natural disaster
Shimla, Jul 14,
The Himachal Seb Utpadak Sangh and senior CPI(M) leaders have strongly condemned the ongoing eviction of farmers and the felling of apple trees in various parts of Himachal Pradesh, particularly in village Chaithla, during a time when the state is reeling from natural disasters.
In a strongly worded statement issued on Sunday, the Seb Utpadak Sangh expressed “deep anguish” over what it termed the “ruthless, unscientific butchering of apple trees” after invoking Section 166 of the CrPC. The organisation blamed contradictory High Court orders and a lack of policy clarity by the state government, stating that the actions violate Article 21 of the Constitution.
“The apple tree is not a forest species. It has developed from crab apple (Malus Sylvestris) but is a cultivated crop for over 50 years. Evictions and tree cutting on this basis are unjust and a misuse of the court’s interim orders,” said the Sangh’s president Sohan Thakur, while announcing an emergency meeting in Hatikoti Jubbal to plan protests against “illegal evictions.”
Backing the farmers’ stand, former MLA and CPI(M) leader Rakesh Singha lambasted the government’s failure to stop evictions, pointing out that the final judgment in the Poonam Gupta writ petition (filed in 2002) is still pending. “The High Court is acting on interim orders which are legally questionable,” he asserted.
Singha added, “It is wrong to claim that apple is a forest species. The High Court orders are diverging and even the Supreme Court, in the Babu Ram vs HP Govt case, reprimanded such mass evictions without due process. The judiciary should not turn a blind eye to the suffering of poor farmers.”
CPI(M) State Secretary Sanjay Chauhan also demanded amendments to the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, saying that tribals and forest dwellers have legitimate rights under the Forest Rights Act. “Evicting thousands without a rehabilitation policy, while ignoring the 33,000 unauthorised slums and 40,000 encroachments in Kangra alone, is a grave injustice,” he said.
The organisations appealed to the state government to halt all evictions until a proper legal and policy framework is established.
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