SRINAGAR: The Forest Department has retrieved 150 kanal of forest land after removing 20 structures during an encroachment eviction drive in Compartment 66/B (Raika) of Jammu Forest Division, officials said on Saturday.
The drive resulted in the removal of 17 kutcha and three pucca structures, which officials said were occupied mostly by Rohingya families.
The operation was conducted under the supervision of Jammu DFO Anurag Arya, who led a joint team of the Forest Department and Forest Protection Force. The J&K Police and Jammu district administration also assisted the operation.
With the latest recovery, the Jammu Forest Division has retrieved 4,225 kanal of forest land through eviction drives this year, according to the department.
The action was part of an ongoing encroachment removal campaign being carried out across Jammu Province under the supervision of CCF Jammu Dr V.S. Senthil Kumar. The department said more than 68,000 kanal of forest land had been retrieved across the province since May 2026.
The Forest Department said the recovered land would be fenced with chain-link fencing to prevent re-encroachment and subsequently restored for forest use.
