the goan I network
PANAJI
More than a fortnight after the National Green Tribunal rapped it for delay, the Goa government has constituted a three-member panel under Joint Secretary (Revenue) Anthony D’Souza to deal with objections of affected parties and finalise the report on private forests submitted by the Review Committee appointed in 2018.
D’Souza has been named chairman of the committee which also comprises the Director of Settlement and Land Records and the Deputy Conservator of Forests (South Division).
“The Committee should consider the objections of affected parties and submit its report before the time limit set by the NGT,” said the order issued last Friday by Under Secretary (Forests), S G Bhosle.
The NGT had on August 8, come down heavily on the State government for delay in finalising the survey of private forests. It asked the State government to deposit Rs one-crore as a ‘performance guarantee’ and directed it to finalise and submit the report by November 8.
If it jumps the fresh deadline, it will face a hefty fine of Rs 50 lakh, the NGT order had said.
The tribunal’s orders came in a petition filed by Goa Foundation.
In December 2018, the National Green Tribunal had directed the State government to complete the exercise of surveying private forests by March 31, 2019 and had fixed costs of Rs 10,000 for every day of delay to comply.
But past the deadline, the State government cited the alibi of the election process of the March-May general election to seek more time for completion of the task.
The Tribunal agreed and extended the time up to June 30. It also agreed to the plea that implementation of its order imposing the fine of Rs 10,000 per day for delay be deferred.
The tribunal recorded that the daily cash penalty would be made effective after June 30. Goa will now have to pay a penalty of Rs 10,000 per day with effect from July 1.
Earlier this year, the survey report of private forests submitted by the 2018 Review
Committee was summarily rejected by the State government citing lacunae including “wrong methods” of surveying employed during the tenure of ex-Deputy Chief Minister Vijai Sardesai.
Sardesai at the time had said that a fresh review committee which will go through the Sawant and Karapurkar committee reports of 1997 will be constituted as the review committee had not held any consultation process.
He had also found fault with the review committee fixing a five per cent sampling intensity for field verification.
Sardesai had noted that it was unjust not to have given land owners a hearing or explanation on how their lands qualified to be marked as private forests.
Mines dept to install cameras
along banks of river Chapora
PANAJI: Directorate of Mines and Geology is mulling installation of surveillance camera systems along the banks of River Chapora in order to track illegal sand mining and transport via the river.
These cameras will be monitored from the office of the Deputy Collector/Mamlatar in Mapusa and Mapusa Police Station.
According to sources, the 12x3 MP high speed dome network cameras will be connected to the monitoring unit through a high-speed wireless network. The cameras will have auto focus and progressive scan, complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensors with 12X optical zoom facility and will be mounted in the marshy areas and along the bunds of the river bank.
There are many instances of illegal sand mining done from the river. In such instances, the mining department has to rely only on information from the locals. But this system is quite inefficient as the mining and transport of sand happens mostly at night. These cameras and monitoring systems will thus help curb this illegal business once and for all.
