THE GOAN NETWORK
MAPUSA
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday assured the House to re-examine the issue of private forest in the State, as he has received a lot of complaints from people whose properties have been declared as forest land.
“After I took over as the CM, a lot of people have verbally spoken to me that their property has been classified as private forest. We have not taken any final decision in the matter. We need to study the issue thoroughly. Since the matter is in NGT we are contemplating asking for time,” Sawant said, while responding to concerns of the members of the House.
Raising the issue of conversion of land in forest areas, Nuvem MLA Wilfred D’Sa said 258 survey numbers “ 132 in Loutolim, 20 in Nagoa, 32 in Nuvem and 73 in Verna “ were shown as private forest in his constituency.
“In Verna, there is an educational institute of Fr Agnel Ashram in survey nos 209, 210 and 211. Similarly, in Nuvem, Veloi more than 40-odd houses belonging to ST community in survey no 279. All these areas have been shown as private forest,” D’Sa said.
The CM, who is also the forest minister, assured the member that the educational institute and the houses will be marked separately and left alone.
“Even though these structures come under private forest, the structures won’t be disturbed. On the balance area, we will have to look into the matter,” he said.
Sawant informed the House that the Sawant Karapurkar committee report had declared 67.12 hectare sq kms of land in the State as forest.
He said after the submission of the Sawant Karapurkar report, the government came out with another report, which was challenged by Goa Foundation and the court called for re-survey of the forest land.
“At present, the matter is in NGT. A new committee was formed in April 28, 2018 and was asked to submit a report. But in the last one year, the ministry got reshuffled and the then CM also could not take a review in the matter,” the CM said.
Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat said the issue was very important but very complicated too.
“The government should follow proper criteria while identifying private forest. In many cases, areas where there is not a single tree have been identified as private forest. Do officers go to on the field or they mark forest land sitting in their offices?” Kamat questioned.
The CM informed that initially a google image was taken to identify density of trees in the area and later forest surveyors visited the site.
INSEtttttttttt
Politicians must stay away on forest demarcation: Reginald
THE GOAN NETWORK
MAPUSA: Congress MLA Alexio Reginald Lourenco on Tuesday said politicians should avoid getting involved in the decision of what should be forest land and what should not, and leave it to experts.
“Who decides which area should be forest land “ politicians or forest officials?” Lourenco questioned surprising even the Leader of Opposition.
“I know a lot of landlords wouldn’t want their land to be part of forest. I am also a landlord. But I feel we politicians should stay away from it,” he said.
He said the government should strike a balance of how much forest land was required.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said politicians were not involved in demarcating forest land of the State.
