Shimla, Jul 29 (PTI) Hundreds of apple growers staged a protest outside the Himachal Pradesh Secretariat on Tuesday, demanding the government to stop drive to uproot apple-laden trees on encroached forest land.
The protest came a day after the Supreme Court stayed a high court order directing the removal of fruit-bearing orchards from encroached forest lands.
The farmers were accompanied by people associated with the Himachal Kisan Sabha and the Himachal Pradesh Seb Utpadak Sangh.
The protesters were lead by former Theog MLA and Communist Party of India CPI(M) leader Rakesh Singha,. They also carried out a rally from Talland area to the Secretariat.
The protests disrupted traffic movement for few hours, causing inconvenience to the commuters.
Earlier, this month, the Himachal Kisan Sabha and the Seb Utpadak Sangh had announced to hold a massive protest outside the secretariat in response to forest department’s drive to uproot apple orchards grown on encroached forest land, following the states high court’s order.
However, the Supreme Court, on Monday put a stay on the high court’s order.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on July 17 said the state government was not in favour of felling apple-laden trees from encroached forest land, stressing time ought to be granted to auction the produce. PTI COR SHS SHS SKY SKY
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