Following a complaint of the Town and Country Planning officer at Ponda, police have reportedly booked a man for undertaking hill cutting illegally.
It is learnt that the hill-cutting has been undertaken without obtaining permission from the competent authority. Hence the offence has been registered under 17-A of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1974.
It is pertinent to note that there have been several instances of illegal hill-cutting that have been taking place in the State. Hill-cutting is carried out for real estate development.
Our hills need to be preserved and the authorities need to show zero tolerance towards this illegal act. It must be said that it may not be possible to detect hill-cutting activities in remote areas and it could go unnoticed.
The authorities concerned could use drone technology in order to keep a watch on remote and inaccessible areas. The drones need to have night-vision facility as much of the illegal activities could be taking place under the cover of darkness.
The footage of the hill-cutting activity caught by the drone can be used to book the culprit. Locals need to be vigilant against suspicious movement of JCB, earthmoving vehicles and trucks in their area and inform the authorities accordingly.
