It would not be an exaggeration to say that the door has been opened for the land mafia and non-Goan capitalists, who have already grabbed majority of Goa, to now buy land in private forests and erect constructions there.
As per the letter sent by Union Ministry of Environment to the Goa government, land owners can now build residential construction in around 2,690 square feet area in private forests. The Ministry has sent a similar letter for Mussoorie which is in Uttarakhand. In the first phase, a total of 46 square kilometers of land have been declared as private forest in Goa by 2022 and there is a high possibility for that number to expand in the near future.
Only one residential construction will be allowed in the subdivision of the respective private forest and no institutional or commercial establishments will have the permission for the same. Now, these are rough terms, but what was the need to give such a permission in the first place? Although the provision is to raise the structure within 2,700 sq ft area, one has to consider felling of trees in the nearby premises to construct roads. This will not only reduce the green cover but also destroy the biodiversity in the region. Destruction of green cover will expose the land to direct sunlight leading to the decline in the ground water level. These are only some of the many dire consequences that the environment will face. Indeed, there are conditions laid down on the minimum number of trees that can be cut and measures for soil conservation, but it would be too naive to believe that most of the people will be implementing these measures. It is doubtful how honestly and sincerely the system responsible to keep a check on the owners will do its duty.
As per the Union Ministry’s letter, only one residential construction will be allowed in one subdivision. However, a private forest owner may divide a single survey number into multiple subdivisions and sell those plots. Goa Foundation had approached the court citing shortcomings in the reports of various committees appointed by the government to finalise the private forest areas in the State, as recommended by courts and National Green Tribunal.
As per Goa Foundation, the government itself had estimated the private forest area to be around 200 sq kms, while according to the Forest Survey of India, the total forest area of the state covers 58% of the land area. This practically means that approximately another 1,000 sq kms of the forest remains unrecorded. Goa Foundation states that the Goa Forest Department, following its criteria, has systematically excluded land with less than 40% cover density and less than five hectares from the definition of forest. The Forest Survey of India, however, defines a forest in terms of an area of one hectare and above and not five hectares or above. Therefore, as per Forest Survey of India, the forest laws and regulations apply to an area of more than one hectare.
Although the government has claimed that the new decision would prove to be beneficial to the tourism business, environmentalists fear that the builders’ lobbies and investors can build an entire colony in the forests by taking advantage of legal loopholes. In fact, the NGT had instructed the government to make sure that no construction takes place in the private forests finalised by Thomas and Araujo Committee and had also ordered the government to identify the recommended area as private forest within three months. It does not seem like the government has complied with the Tribunal’s orders. Goa Foundation has told the Tribunal that the survey numbers identified as private forests are being omitted, which includes Salvador do Mundo, Dabolim, Chicalim, Sancoale and others.
Experts argue that the letter from the Union Ministry is an attempt to do away with the forest laws. In fact, the reason the State government asked the Environment Ministry for such a permission was to provide relief and financial incentives to those whose lands were identified as private forests. The State government had expressed the need for the Ministry to bring some flexibility in the rules with strategic intervention. The question is, do such people ever receive their rights?
Despite clear orders from the court to notify Mhadei wildlife sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve, the government kept delaying the process by saying that the Kul Mundkar cases of people residing near the sanctuary are still unresolved and they require more time to resolve them. Therefore, if the government is not serious regarding the burning issue such as Mhadei, then it is highly unlikely that the authorities will be keeping a sincere tab on the violations while structures are being erected in private forests. The Environment Ministry’s new notification is not only going to badly impact the State’s wildlife but will gift Goan land to the mafia under the garb of welfare of Bhumiputras.
