This story is from September 17, 2020

Forest officers beaten up by villagers

Forest officers beaten up by villagers
Gurgaon: A group of men in Kalba village of Mahendergarh district allegedly thrashed a forest ranger and his deputy, who had gone for an inspection of a protected forest area in the Aravalis, on Wednesday. The two officers have been admitted to Gurgaon’s Medanta hospital with serious injuries.
Rajnish Kumar, forest range officer, and deputy ranger Chandragupta said they had gone to inspect the site, which comes under Nangal Chaudhary range, and observed that some villagers had flattened the land using JCBs and had uprooted trees.
The officers, along with the divisional forest officer, went up to them and informed them that since it was a protected forest area in the Aravalis, their action was illegal.
The villagers, alleged the forest officers, started using abusive language and called more men for help. Within minutes, around 12.30pm, nearly a dozen men gathered and started beating them with sticks, they added.
“The forest staff came out of their vehicle to explain the laws. The villagers got aggressive and used abusive language and later thrashed them. They took away our four-wheeler and mobile phones as well. Some of them tried to strangle us. I quickly called up the police for help, who came and rescued us,” said Vipin Kumar Singh, divisional forest officer, Mahendergarh, who was also part of the inspection team.
He alleged that the village sarpanch, Satyender, was involved in the attack. On the basis of a complaint by the forest department, an FIR has been lodged against him at the Nangal Chaudhary police station.
Vasavi Taygi, chief conservator, forest department, south Haryana, said that the forest officers were first taken to a hospital in Rewari, which referred them to Medanta in Gurgaon.
“Kumar suffered head injuries while Chandragupta’s hand is fractured,” he said.
Senior officials pointed out that Haryana needed a better policy to protect its forest staff in order to protect Aravalis.
“Such incidents show how illegal mining and encroachments are increasing in the Aravalis. This incident amounts to attempt to murder charges. Haryana’s lack of policy to protect the Aravalis and its forest officers are evident here,” said Alok Verma, principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF), wildlife.
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