Team Herald
PONDA: The Deputy Conservator’s Office at Ponda declared that receipts of representations/objections against their land being notified under private forest, has been extended till March 31, 2020. The land owners were in panic when they came to know about the private Forest notification very late. They had rushed to the Ponda office to file their objections with many demanding to extend the date and also to accept objections in respective Talukas of North and South Goa.
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Taking note of the land owners’ demands, the Forest Department extended the date till March 31, 2020. The department also said it would accept the representations/objections at Margao, Panjim Forest office besides Mapusa and Canacona.
The notice was also displayed in this regard outside the Ponda office. Taking note that people from all over Goa had to travel long distance to reach Ponda office, it was also mentioned that objections against inclusion of private forest will be received at Conservator of Forest (Conservation), 2nd floor Van Bhavan, Altinho, Panjim. It will be also accepted at Deputy Conservator of Forests South Goa Division, Aquem Margao.
Besides this, the officials at Forest Department said that the objections will be also received at Mapusa Forest Office and Canacona Forest Office from Monday onwards for convenience of public.
However, though the date is extended to March 31, 2020, the Ponda Deputy Conservator Office will remain open on Saturday, March 14 and Sunday, March 15 for receiving objections, representations.
Meanwhile according to a source from Ponda Deputy Conservator’s Office since the notification published on Feb 15, so far the office received around 3000 representations, objections against private forest. On Friday it received maximum 1000 as March 13 was the last date for filing, which is now extended up to March 31, 2020.
According to notification published by Deputy Conservator of Forest Working Plan Division at Ponda, the government had constituted the Private Forest Review Committee to review Private Forest area provisionally identified by State Level Expert Committee for North and South Goa (Thomas and Araujo Committee) and criteria for inclusion of any land under private forest is as follows: (1) 75 per cent of the tree composition of such lands should be forest species.
(2) The area should be either contiguous to the government forest land or if in isolation the minimum area identified should be 5 hectares and
(3) Canopy density should not be less than 0.4.
Accordingly the government had published an advertisement inviting land owners to file objection/representations whose area was provisionally identified by Thomas and Araujo Committee.
