Govt okays road construction on forest land in Reasi district of J&K

Aksheev Thakur

New Delhi December 29

Transitioning from the previous norm of not permitting the construction of a road on forest land, the Union Environment Ministry has given post-facto approval for the construction of a road by Public Works Department (PWD) on the forest land in Reasi district of J&K.

This is the first such approval given on forest land after amending the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 in July this year. According to the minutes of the meeting, the approval was given by the advisory committee of the ministry under the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Act on December 18. Earlier, under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, diversion of forest land for non-forest use, including construction of road, was not permitted.

First such move

• This is the first such approval given by the government on forest land after amending the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, in July this year.
• Earlier, under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, diversion of forest land for non-forest use, including construction of road, was not permitted.

The Forest Conservation (Amendment) Act exempts certain types of land from the provisions of the Act, such as forest land along a rail line or a public road maintained by the government providing access to a habitation or to a rail, and roadside amenity up to a maximum size of 0.10 hectare. However, the ecologists had warned about the exemptions before the Act was passed stating that it would be a big jolt to the conservation of forests.

In July this year, the forest rage office had flagged the violation to the divisional forest officer of Udhampur. stating that on March 19 this year a JCB had trespassed the forest area by damaging the fencing and destroying 19 saplings of different species. The 3-km road requires the diversion of 0.06 hectares of the forest land.

The advisory committee stated that since the forest area couldn’t be avoided, the diversion of the forest land was the only way to construct the road. “No protected area/tiger reserve/tiger corridor is located within the 10 km radius of proposed forest land,” the minutes of the meeting mentioned. However, the ministry has also stated that the PWD should take action against the officers responsible for trespassing into the forest area.