Following strong objections raised by some wild life activists to a school encroaching forest land in Kharkhari beat compartment 1A under Haridwar range of Rajaji National Park and Tiger Reserve, the forest department officials intervened and removed tents pitched by the school in the forest area.
It is learnt that the school Himalayan Academy having no playground of its own, its annual function was being arranged in the park area on Friday and in the process, the safety wall built by the forest department was razed to make way for cars to enter, something which prompted the officials to step in and free the area from the encroachment of the school .
Wildlife activist Dinesh Pandey said that despite several complaints lodged on the past two days against the school pitching tents right in the forest areas, the forest department had chosen inaction. “It is strange as the area is a sensitive zone and a few months ago, a child was killed by a leopard just 400 metres away from the place the tent is being pitched, prompting the forest department to build a protective wall,” he added.
Some alleged that the manager of Himalayan Academy Chandan Singh Rawat had felled many full -grown trees standing in the park to make space for the tent for the celebration. A witness, Aditya Sharma claimed that the felled trees were burnt by the school authorities later.
Quizzed over the matter, director of Rajaji National Park and Tiger Reserve, Sanatan Sonkar said that they had removed the tents found pitched in the forest area and added that the depts had acted only after plaints were verified.