The Punjab Forest Department has raised objections to the state government’s proposal of regularising farmhouses in the Kandi area, citing forest cover and wildlife in the ecologically fragile Shivalik foothills. In its response to the Housing Department, the Forest Department highlighted environmental concerns and referred to the Supreme Court guidelines on land use in the region.

The policy under consideration would apply to areas taken out of the purview of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), 1900, particularly within GMADA’s local planning area around Chandigarh. The state had formed a committee under the Housing and Urban Development Secretary to draft norms, given that several influential persons, including politicians and bureaucrats, own land there.

Officials admitted that l

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