Canacona BJP chief opposes private forest plans
THE GOAN NETWORK
CANACONA
Following strong resentment by landowners from Loliem, the Canacona BJP chief has now joined the chorus of voices opposing the State government’s plans to notify private forests in parts of Canacona taluka.
Canacona BJP block president Mahesh (Govind) Naik, who incidentally is also sarpanch of Poinguinim village, has requested the forest minister to scrap the classification of lands as private forests in Canacona, on grounds that this is not beneficial to the people.
“There is strong resentment among the people of Canacona taluka over the government’s proposal to privatise forest lands in the taluka. Gaondongrim Sarpanch Puno Gaonkar, Shristhal Sarpanch Laximan Raikar, Cotigao Deputy Sarpanch Datta Velip and several panchas have approached me to strongly object to the government’s plan to declare private forests in their respective villages,” said Naik.
“People in the region fear that their livelihood will be affected if these lands are declared as private forest areas. I will put forth their apprehension before Forest Minister Rajendra Arlekar and demand the scrapping of the private forest proposal,” he said.
It may be recalled that Loliem residents have strongly resented the government's plans to declare a significant portion of their village land as private forest. They will be meeting forest officers at Keshav Devalaya, Loliem, on Wednesday.
Many landowners fear that if their farmland is described as private forest, they will be deprived of agriculture or other schemes.
Incidentally, former minister Isidore Fernandes has also come out strongly against the government's plan.
“This will also unnecessarily curb any future development in the area,” said Fernandes.
Meanwhile, it is reliably learnt that following stiff resistance from locals of Canacona taluka, and more importantly from local BJP leaders, Forest Minister Rajendra Arlekar will visit Poinguinim along with forest officers and other officers and address the grievances of residents.
