THATTA, May 27: The Sindh forest department has requested the district and sessions judges of 22 districts of the province to form public vigilance committees to help the department evict ‘influential encroachers’ who have occupied thousands of acres of forest land.

Sindh’s Chief Conservator of Forests Riaz Ahmad Wagan had sent a letter on May 17 to the district and session judges of Malir (Karachi), Hyderabad, Tando Allahyar, Tando Mohammad Khan, Badin, Thatta, Dadu, Jamshoro, Shaheed Benazirabad, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, Mithi, Sanghar, Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur, Naushahro Feroze, Larkana, Kambar, Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Kashmore-Kandhkot, reminding them of an SHC order dated March 10, 2011 which directed them to form public vigilance committees to help remove encroachments from forests.

The committees were formed in a few districts like Badin, Sanghar, Karachi (South) and Malir which were actively working to resolve issues related to encroachment of forest land, said sources in the department.

But in many districts the committees were either not yet formed or they had been formed but were doing nothing to resolve issues.

Though the forest officers were authorised under the Forest Act 1927 to prosecute the offenders in a court of law, the procedure was not normally adopted owing to legal flaws.

The only workable option available with the department is to lodge a complaint with the local police and get their assistance to remove encroachments.

The forest department had got vacated 27,026.55 acres in various districts of the province since April 2008, while large tracts of land measuring 33,589.50 acres were yet to be taken back from encroachers, said the sources.

The then Sindh Forest Minister Syed Ali Nawaz Shah had informed Sindh Assembly during a session last year that the department could recover only 800 acres in Thatta while 9,255 acres in Baao Puran Daas, Veeran, Mulchand, Khaddi, Bijora, Panhwar and other forests were still in possession of encroachers, followed by 8,694 acres in Shaheed Benazirabad, 3,971 acres in Shikarpur and 1,793 acres in Kashmore.

Most of the forest land has been occupied by influential persons who have large landholdings in Thatta forests along both banks of the Indus.

Many encroachers have raised protective embankments around their farmland in the riverbed, which created hurdles to smooth flow of floodwater in the river during the flood season.

Flood protective measures Thatta deputy commissioner Agha Shah Nawaz Babar recently presided over a meeting which was attended by the officers of the irrigation, forest, bund division, revenue and other departments.

He directed the officers to take measures to strengthen vulnerable sites of Soorjani, Mulchand, MS and other river embankments before the onset of the monsoon season in pursuance of a contingency plan prepared by the district administration.

He directed the officials of drainage department to make arrangements for clearing silt immediately from Nangan Dhoro Sim Naali (saline water drain) and other drains before the monsoon.

He urged constant vigilance of the RBOD network in the district and warned the officials that if any damage occurred because of their negligence, they would be prosecuted in court.

He asked the officers of the bund division, agricultural engineering department and the RBOD to keep ready bulldozers, wirelesses system and other machinery on the embankments to tackle any probable eventuality during the monsoon.