‘Utilise MGNREGS funds to employ tribals, clear weeds': Madras High Court

CHENNAI:  The Madras High Court on Friday ordered the Union and State governments to utilise the MGNREGS funds to employ tribals and people living inside forests to carry out a project to clear invasive weeds and exotic trees from national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.

The HC brushed aside the averment of the Union Ministry of Rural Development, which, through Additional Solicitor General (ASG) R Sankaranarayanan, had informed the court that using the funds under the scheme for the removal of Prosopis juliflora is a non-permissible work as such activities are non-tangible, not measurable and repetitive.

However, the bench observed that a combined reading of the MGNREGA and the operational guidelines makes it very clear that the scheme included removal of weeds from the forest, and that the contention of the ASG may not be feasible.

Noting that afforestation is also about protecting forests from invasive plants, the special division bench consisting of Justices V Bharathidasan and N Sathish Kumar referred to the 'Invasive Species Clearance and Native Shola Forest and Grasslands Restoration Programme'.