The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on Friday assured the Punjab Government to resolve the issues related to the Punjab land Preservation Act (PlPA) within a month’s time. The assurance came after State Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal urged Union Environment and Forests Minister Prakash Javadekar to waive off the conditions imposed by the Centre over PlPA areas which were under habitation and cultivation to remove hardships being faced by the farmers in making commercial use of their agricultural lands in these areas.
For the purpose, Javedkar has asked the concerned officers to come out with a proposal. Sukhbir has called upon Javadekar at New Delhi to stress that there was nothing coming in the way of developing such areas as per law. Sukhbir has also sought to notify ecological sensitive areas around Sukhna wildlife sanctuary in Chandigarh as the state has already forwarded a proposal for notification of eco sensitive zones (ESZ) around 13 wildlife sanctuaries to the Environment Ministry.
“This proposal is in accordance with recommendation of central empowered committee of Supreme Court, which has recommended 100 meteres ESZ around protected areas,” he said. Sukhbir demanded that the habitants of Kansal village should not be further burdened by restrictions imposed under ESZ in one km width. Punjab had already discussed the ESZ matter with UT and Haryana, he added.
Deputy Chief Minister also urged to provide exemption to Punjab from Forests Act, 2006, for seeking clearance certificate from concerned Deputy Commissioner to the effect of rights of scheduled tribes or traditional forest dwellers in respect of forest areas to be developed. He contended that there is no population belonging to the scheduled tribes or other traditional tribes in the state as per the census report of the Union Government. Responding, Javedkar asked the State to resolve this issue at its own by publication of public notices.
Sukhbir also suggested to the Union Minister to adopt State Forest Research Institute, ludhiana, as a sub-centre of Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, for promotion of agro-forestry in the region as well as northern states. “The state institute is being setup in collaboration with the FRI as a centre of excellence in agro-forestry research and extension services,” he said. Javedkar promised to look into the proposal and decide the matter after meeting with concerned administrators of the institute.