Team Herald
PANJIM: A whopping 130.54 hectares of forest land in Goa were diverted for non-forest purposes in the last two years ending December 2021, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) revealed in its annual report.
As per the report, for the calendar year 2020, five projects were granted permission under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, to divert 98.49 ha of forest land for non-forest purpose.
In 2021 almost 32.05 ha of forest land were diverted to facilitate four projects. The Ministry had received proposals for diversion of 171.50 ha of forest land, but permissions were granted for only 32.05 ha. The other three proposals are pending before the Ministry.
In 2020, the Ministry had granted in-principle approval to four projects to divert 29.08 ha of forest land, while a final approval was given to one project for diversion of 69.41ha of land.
The project which was granted final approval in 2020 included construction of the 400 Kv Xeldem-Mapusa transmission line in favour of Goa Tamnar Transmission Project Ltd. The permission was granted on November 19, 2020. The other diversions were granted for State government projects.
As per the State Forest report 2019 (released once in two years), the forest cover in the State stood at 2,237.49 sq km which is 60.44 per cent of the State’s geographical area.
Further, as per the annual report, the Ministry had released around 1.6 crore to the State towards the Conservation & Management of Mangrove and Coral Reefs.
The Ministry had also approved Rs 21.17 crore outlay operation plan for the State Forest Department during the just concluded financial year.