Chaithla Apple Orchard Eviction Sparks Heated Debate: Green Trees Fall, Questions Rise.
SHIMLA, July 15, 2025 – The axe has finally fallen on Chaithla’s controversial orchards and orhers elsewhere.
Seb Utpadak Sangh today decided to make it a fight to finish at their meeting in Hatkoti today addressed by former Theog MLA Rakesh Singha.
They have decided to gherao Secretariat shortly till the Sukhu government frames policy protecting small farmers from eviction drive.
Acting on High Court orders, the forest department began uprooting hundreds of fruit-laden apple trees grown on encroached forest land in Kotkhai’s Chaithla village, parts of Sarahan and Bada Gaon in Shimla applebelt fortge last threedays.
The visuals are jarring—lush green orchards flattened just weeks ahead of harvest.
The big green apple trees with their red apple were cut mercilessly with chain saws by the forest teams, "leaving them bleeding and rotting in the orchards, a sight that knocks at conscience of any apple farmer who nurture these Butas like Betas".
But the law is clear: forest land cannot be grabbed, no matter how sweet the fruit.
While the court minced no words in denouncing the illegal clearance of pine forests to raise apple trees, it also opened a floodgate of emotion and debate in the hills.
As one local farmer put it, “You didn’t plant these trees last year.
They’ve been here 20–30 years. Where was the forest department then? Sleeping?”
“This isn't just a legal issue anymore — it's a human one,” says a Dinesh Kumar, farmer from Kotkhai.
People are now drawing ironic parallels to Pegasus-likeý surveillance used elsewhere.
“If only the forest department had monitored land as closely as phones are tapped,” said a resident of Kotkhai. “We wouldn’t have reached this mess.”
Middle Path Is the Only Way
Manoj Kumar, a hydropower expert has called for a pragmatic middle path.
“This is not just a legal matter, but a social and ecological dilemma. The High Court has rightly acted against large-scale forest grabbers.
But the blanket felling of apple orchards — especially those nurtured by small and marginal farmers — is harsh.
These orchards are the only source of livelihood for many.”
“Why can’t the government follow the same process it uses for diverting forest land for roads, hydropower, and industry?
Let it frame a public interest policy for poor farmers and seek MoEF clearance.
Green apple trees that stabilised slopes and created livelihoods should not be chopped overnight.”
Manoj disapproved of cutting down fruit-bearing trees, saying, “You don’t burn the house to kill a rat. We can reclaim forest cover with thoughtful planning, not blind axe work.”
The Forgotten Pines and the Displaced poor
Still, the roots of the issue lie deeper.
“But nobody wants to come on record about how many green pines were felled to clear the way for apple orchards,” said a local school teacher.
Chaithla issue stems from the ego tussle between the two rival groups in the village and one approached high court, leveling serious charges of encroachments on forest land by their rivals.
That’s where this story began.
Ask any Encroacher and they claim they never chopped pine trees, but instead planted apple trees on "charagah" (pasture) land, where their ancestors grazed livestock.
Some has sought 'Tabadla' for the land they lost to floods, others had sought Nau Tore, still orhers sought Regularisation under the 2000-1 policy proposed by the then BJP regime.
But they all landed in high court after PIL was filed in the high Court challenging the state government policy.
Farmers face Different issue of encroachment mainly in the erstwhile Jubbal state where the rulers didn't give ownerships rights to farmers on Banjar land, that they used to get under Nau Tore.
But due to the incompetent regimes, all waste land Banjar were labeled as forest land under the Forest Conservation Act 1980 as per notification issued by the centre in 1952.
“These are our vartandari rights, guaranteed under the Constitution and the Forest Rights Act,” said a small farmer, whose 3-biswa orchard was bulldozed, and whose house was sealed.
“Our ancestors were shepherds till the 1970s. Apple changed our fate. Now, we have nowhere to go, nothing to fall back upon.”
“Buta ko Beta Samjha”: Farmer Anguish Runs Deep
The emotional impact runs deep in apple country.
Govind Chatranta, an apple grower from Sarachali, Jubbal, said:
“We raised these trees like our children — ‘Buta’ ko ‘beta’ samjha. We spent decades nurturing them. Couldn’t the government at least let us harvest the fruit and auction it? That money could’ve gone to replant deodars on the reclaimed land.”
Chatranta says the blanket eviction drive has hurt the poor and marginal farmers the most. Chopping apple tree is unacceptable it hurts us, he said.
Singha: “Cutting Green Apple Trees Is Unacceptable”
Rakesh Singha, veteran leader of the Seb Utpadak Sangh, has come out strongly against the way the eviction drive is being carried out.
“The felling of green apple trees is unacceptable. The High Court must reconsider its decision.
The government should immediately frame a rehabilitation policy for small and marginal farmers under the Forest Rights Act and invoke Section 163A of the Land Revenue Act, which permits the settlement of rights in public interest.”
Singha clarified that he opposes large-scale land grabbers and corporate misuse but emphasized that “small farmers must not be crushed under a bulldozer of legal rigidity.”
“This Had to Happen” — But With Accountability.
NGOs, not registered, like HIFORM, support the eviction drive as it will go a long in protecting environment and putting a stop to encroachers' greed to grab more under the garb of this or that excuse including FRA.
Senior journalist Raj Machhan offered a firm stand:
“This eviction drive was long overdue. You cannot allow people to clear forests and replace them with commercial apple orchards. That’s not development — it’s ecological crime.
The forest land must be protected and replanted with native species like deodar and kail, not turned into private profit zones.”
However, he was quick to raise a red flag and disagree with Singha: Encroachments must go to stop greed and protect environment and ecology.
"It is wrong to justify encroachments and pleading to regularize them under FRA, which concerns only forest dwellers in true sense".
Farmers on the other question: “Where was the forest department all these years?
Why the successive state government brought in Regularisation policy since 2000 onwards which were never implemented and misled farmers encourage them to grab more lands around them.
Are we saying no one noticed entire hillsides turning into orchards?
Accountability must extend to officials who enabled this and state governments which say different things in high court and different things during elections on public platforms. High Court must pin the government officials, they demand.
Forest Department’s Blind Eye Under Fire
Many are now demanding answers from the forest department. “This is not a sudden encroachment. These orchards are decades old.
How did they escape the watchful eyes of beat guards, forest rangers, and DFOs?” asked a retired revenue official from Theog.
Policy Alternatives: What Could Have Been Done?
Farmer groups and experts are now pressing for a calibrated approach:
Harvest the fruit first, then remove the trees.
Auction the produce and use proceeds for native afforestation.
Evict large land grabbers, but rehabilitate small and marginal farmers under a legally vetted policy.
Fix forest department accountability through independent audit.
Explore eco-tourism or agroforestry leases post-eviction on cleared terraces.
FRA and the Limits of Regularisation
The debate has also sharpened around the Forest Rights Act (FRA).
Himal Chand Thakur from Sissu said:
“FRA is for Scheduled Tribes and traditional forest dwellers cultivating land before 2005, not for commercial apple planters.”
Prem Katoch of Lahaul-Spiti added:
“Let’s not stretch FRA to cover everything. It was designed for survival—not orchards for profit.”
Even Raj Machhan warned against the misuse of FRA for vote bank politics:
“Let’s not twist a social justice law into a tool for regularising encroachments. If that happens, our forests will be history.”
Justice Must Be Firm, But Also Fair
Forests must be reclaimed. But let’s not forget the poor, small farmers who’ve spent their lives here.
The axe must fall, but it must fall with fairness not turning hills into rotting graveyard of apple trees.
All plants deserve empathy, dignity and protection.
#ChaithlaEviction #GreenJusticeHP #FRAFacts #SaveSmallFarmers #ForestVsFruit
