Goa government rejects review committee report on private forest lands

MARGAO: The state government has rejected the report of the review committee on demarcation of private forest lands on grounds of “lacunae” in the methodology followed.
Deputy chief minister Vijai Sardesai said that chief minister Pramod Sawant has approved reconstitution of the committee and stated that in the new demarcation exercise public consultation would be held.
The Manohar Parrikar-government had constituted a nine-member private forest review committee last year to examine the grievances of private citizens and environmental groups regarding the inclusion or non-inclusion of patches.
After taking over as forest minister last month, Sardesai had said that he would look into the grievances of landowners while taking steps to preserve green cover. “I’d said that I need to study the issue as it has huge implications for Goa. After studying the issue, we’ve decided to replace the review committee for various reasons.”
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function in Margao, Sardesai said one reason for rejecting the report of the review committee is that no consultation was held with stakeholders while conducting the demarcation exercise.
Stating that it was incorrect to not have consulted the landowners, Sardesai said that such reports should not meet the fate of Coastal Zone Management Plan, which he said was prepared without considering the ground realities and without consulting the people.
He also said that the fixation of a 5% sampling intensity for field verification was another reason for the government rejecting the report saying it was improper to be assumptive for demarcation of forest land.
The stratified random sampling method followed by the review committee had no government approval, he added.
The review committee was constituted in April 2018 to review the private forest areas identified by North and South Goa division committees headed by V T Thomas and F Araujo and also by the Sawant and Karapurkar committees.
Speaking in the assembly during a discussion on private forest nearly two years ago, Parrikar had said that while forests had to be preserved, the person whose land came under private forest should also get some benefit.