The State Government is gearing up to create a land bank for restoration of forests that has been reduced by fire or tree felling. For re-creation of forest area, the Government has also decided to utilise revenue land for taking up reforestation measures.
Although the Secretary of the State Revenue Department KR Pisda has sought information from all the 27 district collectors relating to availability of revenue land in their respective region, only two of them have so far provided accurate information while others have either got the information wrong or are yet to send the details.
Pisda has written letters to all district collectors while asking them to send the required information as early as possible. Pisda said that as per the Centre’s guidelines laid down under the Forest Conservation Act, the State government had to go for afforestation in equal area of land to convert the forest land for use in non-forest work.
He said that several forest conversion cases related to industries, mining and irrigation projects have been pending for approval with the Forest Department. Where non-forest lands are not available, compensatory afforestation need to be carried out over degraded forest twice in extent to the area being diverted, he said.
For that, the smaller forest area under the revenue department could be made available, he said. Pisda said that if for the development of Chhattisgarh, if the State allows industries, mining, irrigation and power projects, some forest land need to be essentially diverted and the State needs to hand over necessary land for compensatory afforestation.
He said there had been an increasing demand before the State government to provide such land for afforestation. That is why the Government has decided to create a land bank so that it can be handed over to the Forest Department when some forest land were converted for any project, he said.
The State government needs to know the quantum of land available in the State. There may be some land where government schools, hospitals and hostels have been established, he said.
Such land cannot be handed over to the Forest Department, he said. They need to be excluded from the land bank. The officials need to locate 15-25 hectares of land especially located close to the Reserve forest area, he said.