ORCHARD MASSACRES

The Forest Department issued notices to all the ‘encroachers’ everywhere. But a patch on Budgam-Pulwama border was the only place across Jammu and Kashmir where orchard axing took place. With the mass felling, Umar Mukhtar reports the residents have lost hope of a possible dignified future

- Umar Mukhtar

On November 28, Farooq Ahmad, 42, a resident of Sekloo hamlet of Pulwama trekked down a kilometre to the nearby Sonbanjar village to cast his vote. It was the first phase of the district development council (DDC) elections. Till now, Farooq had never voted.

Unlike past elections, Ahmad cast his vote in the hope to secure the possession of the land that he and his family has been cultivating for decades. A month ago, he and some other people were served the eviction notices by the forest department. They were asked to vacate the land within a week.

Ahmad, a labourer by profession lives in a single-story modest cracked house on a slope. He has worked hard on his orchard over the past many years hoping that once the orchards bear fruit, it would change their lives.

A week after the notices were served, forest officials cut the whole orchard of Ahmad spread over an area of 30 marlas of land. Ahmad had planted more than 100 trees. Some of the trees had borne fruits this year for the first time.

“It takes almost a decade of hard work and care to set up an orchard that bears fruits,” Ahmad said. “My ancestors used to cultivate maize and vegetables on these lands but I felt horticulture can at least make our lives easy. I had planted apple trees and had invested all my savings and time in it.”

Interestingly this development of serving notices and cutting of trees was initiated days ahead of the first phase of the DDC elections. According to Ahmad, the DDC candidates in these areas have asked people to vote in order to save the lands that these people were cultivating for ages.

“I voted for the first time in the hope to not lose my lands else there will be nothing left with me,” Ahmad said.