Minister mulls digging open trenches in forests areas adjoining farms

Nagpur: The idea of forest minister Sanjay Rathod to dig deep trenches near farms alongside forest areas in the state has not gone down well with senior officials.
Rathod has called a meeting in Mumbai on Monday in which digging of deep trenches in forests on farm boundaries to save farmers’ crop by wildlife near forest areas is one of the top issues.
Officials are wary of forest minister’s wayward idea. “Such open trenches will not only cause animal and human deaths, it would also be in violation of Forest Conservation Act (FCA) 1980 and Indian Forest Act (IFA) 1927 as the areas that will be dug will be forest. In no case farmers will allow to dig their land,” they said.
“There is no feasibility report called or technicalities examined before taking up such a project which will immensely burden the public exchequer by crores of rupees,” they said.
“Nowhere such a project has been successful. On the contrary digging of deep trenches in forest may lead to flash flood into farmers’ field. The deep trenches act as resting place for wild animals which may add to the agony of the adjoining cultivators. In all probabilities, such structures not only result in loss of forest boundary but also convert into deep gullies causing further erosion of fertile soil. The idea is to use funds under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management & Planning Authority (CAMPA),” said sources.
However, the issues for which CAMPA funds will be sought doesn’t even find place in annual plan of operations (APO) of CAMPA. Officials agreed that such trenches are dug in forest areas but that is done as per approved working plans by the MoEFCC to protect plantations and mark forest boundaries.
Minister Rathod did not respond to TOI calls. Sources close to him said, “This is just an idea and not a proposal. The issue will be discussed in the meeting and final decision will be taken after that.”
With the onset of assembly session from Monday, minister has called not less than 15 senior forest officials to Mumbai for a meeting to discuss various issues which include development of Tipeshwar sanctuary, relocation of villages in Painganga and Dnyanganga sanctuaries, besides appointments of forest patils on the lines of police patils. Of the six issues that will come up for discussions in Monday’s meeting, four pertain to minister’s home district Yavatmal.
Can a cash-strapped government afford to call 15 top officials who will fly to Mumbai to attend the meeting? All the senior officials will fly to Mumbai on Monday to attend the meeting at 2pm.
“When facilities like videoconferencing are available, why waste time and huge money on air fare and other logistics?” asked a section of officials.