DEHRADUN, June 15 -- A major attempt at illegal land encroachment has been thwarted in the Khalanga forest area of Dehradun district, falling under the Mussoorie forest range. The incident has triggered widespread public outrage and calls for stringent action against the perpetrators as well as against officials alleged to be complicit through their inaction. In fact, initially, the forest officials appeared hesitant to take any action even when contracted by journalist Deepshikha Rawat Verma and it was only after the video posted by her went viral and was shared by other people and media persons late Friday evening.

The encroachment came to light when a Haryana-based individual, Anil Sharma, fenced off approximately 40 bighas of forest ...