Forest Department asked to notify 3,00,166 Ha land as reserved forest
| Date :19-Sep-2019 |
Staff Reporter :
State Government has given targets to circle offices of Forest Department to notify unclassed area and protected forests under Section 4 of the Indian Forest Act. The total area to be notified is 3,00,166 hectares! Section 4 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, reads as follows: “Whenever it has been decided to constitute any land a reserved forest, the State Government shall issue a notification in the Official Gazette -- (a) declaring that it has been decided to constitute such land a reserve forest; (b) specifying, as nearly as possible, the situation and limits of such land; and (c) appointing an officer (hereinafter called “the Forest Settlement-officer”) to inquire into and determine the existence, nature and extent of any rights alleged to exist in favour of any person in or over any land comprised within such limits, or in over any forest-produce, and to deal with the same as provided in this Chapter.”
Thus, notifying unclassed area and protected forests under Section 4 of the Indian Forest Act effectively means it to be termed ‘reserved forest’. In a recent communication Virendra Tiwari, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Mantralaya) has directed U K Agrawal, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force), and all the Chief Conservator of Forests in Maharashtra to ‘ensure that the revised targets’ regarding notification of unclassed area and protected forests as stated above, ‘must be achieved without fail’.
As per the said communication, total 3,00,166 hectares comprising 91,608 hectares of unclassed area, and 2,08,558 hectares of protected forests has to be notified by the end of March 2020. As per the targets fixed and revised, maximum 1,04,327 hectares of unclassed and protected forest area has to be notified in Thane circle, followed by 70,629 hectares in Nagpur circle, 61,097 hectares in Kolhapur. As far as Nagpur circle is concerned, of a total 70,629 hectares to be notified, 15,621 hectares is unclassed area and 55,008 hectares is protected forests.
There were fears that the notification of unclassed area under Section 4 of the Indian Forest Act would mean lesser land becoming available for various projects. However, an officer of the Forest Department said on the condition of anonymity that notification of area under the said provision was a ‘routine process’ relating to updating of records of forest land under control of Forest Department.