PORVORIM: CM Pramod Sawant said the govt is yet to take a decision on submitting the report of the review committee on private forest lands to the NGT. The CM also disclosed variation of total private forest land reported in the reports of the surveys.
“The reports were prepared by Sawant and Karapurkar committees after which the govt committee was formed. NGO Goa Foundation then moved the NGT, which directed the govt to conduct a re-survey. The report, based on the directions was prepared but was not submitted to the NGT as the govt had sent it for opinion to the Advocate General,” he said during a discussion on starred question tabled by MLA Wilfred D’Sa.
Sawant, who also holds Forest portfolio said, the govt has not taken a decision on the report as yet. Several legislators said they have been receiving complaints from the locals that their property has been marked as private forest. “In some property, there is no tree but it has been marked as private forest,” Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat said.
As per the reports, the NGT had ordered the State to conduct a scientific exercise to identify private forest lands in the coastal state. Before being replaced in the cabinet, then forest Minister Vijai Sardesai had informed reporters that the report demarcating private forest areas stands rejected.
The review committee had been set up to go through a report prepared by Sawant and Karapurkar committees in the year 1997. Sardesai had said that the CM approved the formation of a fresh committee. The review report was reportedly prepared by Chennai-based National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management.
The CM also denied that any forest lands have been converted or change of zone affected under Section 16(B) of the TCP ACT till date. “Section 16 A deals with exemption to Regional Plan for public projects. No land use changes are considered in forest areas under this section,” he said.
The govt has rejected 97 applications from 2005 to 2017 for conversion of land in forest area. The reason, CM cited was because the areas are either identified by the State Level Expert Committee as private forest or comes under the purview of the Supreme Court’s order on February 4, 2015.
Meanwhile, the Town & Country Planning Minister informed the House that an inquiry has been ordered in cases of land conversions carried out by changing zones.
