JAMMU, May 19, 2026 : Police and the Forest Department on Tuesday carried out a major anti-encroachment drive on the outskirts of Jammu city, demolishing several illegal structures and reclaiming nearly 60 kanals of prime forest land, officials said.
The operation was jointly conducted by officials of the Forest Department, Forest Protection Force, Revenue Department and the police to evict alleged encroachers from forest areas in the Mahamaya and Raika Bandi forest belts.
Despite resistance from some of the alleged encroachers, the drive continued for nearly three to four hours, during which around 20 to 30 structures, mostly kaccha constructions, were demolished in the Mahamaya forest area, officials said.
Authorities stated that the reclaimed land, located in the Raika Bandi forest belt of the lower Shivalik range, is worth crores of rupees.
The affected families staged protests against the demolition drive, describing the action as “unjustified” and alleging that no prior notice had been issued before the operation.
Officials, however, said that only a few structures existed in the Mahamaya forest belt five to six years ago, but large-scale illegal constructions had rapidly increased in recent years, with new encroachments continuing to emerge.
To curb further encroachments, the Forest Department has decided to undertake detailed mapping of tribal settlements and other habitations located in forest areas across Jammu.
“All such areas will be photographed and videographed, and the records will be uploaded on official websites after verification of documents,” an official said.
“We will not allow any forest land to be encroached upon and all illegal occupations will be removed,” the official added.
According to official figures, Jammu district accounts for 1,45,487 kanals and six marlas of encroached land, while Srinagar district recorded 13,862.95 kanals, indicating that Jammu district alone has more than ten times the encroached land recorded in Srinagar.
Official data further revealed that over 17 lakh kanals of government land have been encroached upon across Jammu and Kashmir, with Jammu division accounting for more than 14 lakh kanals — over three times the figure recorded in Kashmir division.
“As many as 17,27,247 kanals of encroached State land entries were expunged from revenue records across Jammu and Kashmir,” the official data stated.
Of the total, Jammu division accounted for 14,00,051 kanals and five marlas of encroached State land whose entries were removed from revenue records, while Kashmir division recorded 3,27,199 kanals.
Environmental experts blamed rampant encroachments in forest and hilly areas around Jammu for rising temperatures and increasing incidents of flash floods in the region.
Environmentalist Prof Bushan Lal said the lower Shivalik and Niki Tawi areas act as the “oxygen lungs” of Jammu city but are increasingly witnessing large-scale illegal constructions.
“The lower Shivaliks and Niki Tawi areas are considered the oxygen lungs of Jammu city, but they are gradually witnessing large-scale encroachments and illegal constructions, creating a concrete jungle and adversely affecting the city’s climate,” he said.
