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The Apple Farmers' Federation of India (AFFI) expresses its shock and utter dismay at the ongoing felling of trees by the Himachal Pradesh (HP) forest department at the instructions of a High Court order dated July 17, 2025.
According to a release, the state committee of AFFI, HP Seb Utpadak Sangh will mobilise all the affected apple growers for a massive rally to the Shimla Secretariat on July 29 demanding an end to the terrorising evictions and felling of 50-year-old apple trees. While the deforestation is still underway, it is being reported that 4,000 apple trees on 300 bighas (60 acres) of allegedly encroached land in the Shimla-Rohru apple belt will face the axe just two months before the harvesting season in September. Trees have already been cut and even houses sealed Chaithla, Sarahan and other villages. It has been reported that the forest department has evicted growers who belong to below poverty line (BPL) families, the release stated. "AFFI condemns this inhumane action on apple growers which is a direct hit on their livelihood and contravenes the provisions of Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees every citizen the right to a dignified livelihood. This action also negates the Forest Rights Act [FRA] (2006), which allows forest dwellers to hold and use the land for habitation and cultivation," the release said. The AFFI appealed to the Justices BS Negi and Vivek Thakur to reconsider their verdict in light of these aspects, and also the ecological role that apple orchards play as carbon sinks and preventers of soil erosion. "The root of the problem lies in the wholesale application of the Forest Conservation Act [FCA] (1980) in HP which has just 12.7 per cent of its land available for agricultural purposes, even though more than two-thirds of the state population is dependent on agricultural and allied activities for its survival," the release stated. The AFFI further mentioned that in such a scenario where both the challenge to the amended revenue act and the issue of evictions at large are stuck in both the High Court and the Supreme Court, the latest order is bad in law for instructing the forceful felling of apple trees and sealing of houses of apple growers. Further, AFFI strongly objected to the judges labelling apple trees as non-forest species. Wild apple varieties like crab apples are native to Himachal's mid-hills and not invasive. (ANI)
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