| NGT vindicates Forest Deptt, issues notices to State | | IIT Jammu on Forest land | | Abodh Sharma
Early Times Report
jammu, Mar 28: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has vindicated the Forest department by issuing notices to the State Government and the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development for allocating 159 hectares of forest land in Jagti area for the proposed Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
The notices were issued in response to the plea of Nigam Priye Saroop, a law student of Jammu, who had contented before the Tribunal that the transfer of the forest land was completely unjustified when other vast stretches of waste and unproductive lands are available in abundance in Jammu. The petitioner had further claimed that the transfer of forest land will adversely affect the eco-sensitive zone of Ramnagar Wildlife Sanctuary which is natural wildlife habitat.
ET had revealed in its report dated December 2, 2015 that the State Forest Department had turned down the demand of the department of Higher Education seeking 3500 kanals of forest land in Jagti area of Nagrota. While turning down the demand of the Higher Education department, the authorities had advocated that Forest land can be acquired for projects of such vital public significance, but there are guidelines that lay that all other options should be explored before making such a move.
"Prudence lies in establishing such a huge project at barren land, which cannot be put to other use. Such a move shall not only seriously affect the ecological balance, but also trigger a dangerous man-animal conflict in the area", the department had argued while turning down the demand.
According to the existing guidelines, forest land if acquired has to be replenished with same dimension of land, which is eventually brought under green cover, however, forest authorities told Early Times that on one hand thousands of acres of forest land has been encroached upon by politicians, police officers and common people in connivance with revenue and forest officials, on the other, land allocated to forest department in exchange of acquired forest land is generally such, that cannot be brought under green cover under any circumstances.
Taking cognizance of the plea of Nigam Priye Saroop, a Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notices to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Environment Ministry, Jammu and Kashmir Government and others while seeking their reply by March 31. |
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