After agri land, AP eyes forest areas

In order to help the progress and development of the successor State, certain incentives and concessions were incorporated in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. Inter alia, under Section 94(4), it is provided that the Central government shall facilitate the creation of a new capital for the successor State, if considered necessary, by denotifying the degraded forest land.

In order to take advantage of the provision, it is reported that the Government of Andhra Pradesh has requested the Central government to dereserve an extent of about 20,000 hectares (equivalent to 49,420 acres) falling under the forest area of Krishna and Guntur districts.

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Highlights:

• For new AP capital, as per Reorganisation Act, Centre shall denotify forest land
• AP seeks denotification of about 20,000 hectares of forest area in Krishna and Guntur districts
• What is the extent of area required for new capital?
• Is denotification of forest land justified despite pooling of about 33,000 acres by AP
• If Centre concedes, it will be biggest denotification in India's history
• Kondapalli forest in Krishna district will be completely eliminated
• 18,000 ha forest land in both districts under encroachment. How will the govt deal with this?
• Clause (4) of Section 94 of the Act mentions about denotification of the degraded forest land, if necessary.
• There is no definition of ‘degraded forest’ in the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980

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There are many issues that remained unanswered by both the Central and the State governments in this regard. One, the extent of area required for the construction of new capital. There does not appear to be any scientific basis for assessing the need. Both the governments are strategically silent on the recommendations of the K C Sivaramakrishnan Committee regarding the new capital for Andhra Pradesh.

Two, even considering the issue of location of new capital as the foregone conclusion, the justification for the denotification of the forest land needs to be examined critically. Clause (4) of Section 94 also clearly states that the Central government shall facilitate denotification only if considered necessary. Establishment of the need for denotification is the crucial issue.

Clarification to the following aspects becomes relevant in this regard: (i) What is the extent of area required for new capital? (ii) Is there a need for denotification of the forest land in the context of ‘pooling of vast lands to the extent of about 33,000 acres?

Three, reverting again to the Clause (4) of Section 94, which is very consciously and cautiously worded states that denotification of the degraded forest land would be considered, if necessary. There is no definition available for the term ‘degraded forest’ in the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.

Under these circumstances, dictionary meaning of the term ‘degraded forest’ becomes relevant. As per the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (Third Edition, 2010) ‘degraded forest’ can be said to be the one that has lost its value. In the present context of environmental degradation, nothing can be classified as such.

In this context, it would be highly relevant to have a look at the endowment of ‘Forest Land’ available to the new State of Andhra Pradesh. As per the information available from the records of the government, the total forest cover of the State is 33,341.5 sqkm, which forms about 20.55 per cent of the total land (1,62,440 sqkm) spread across the 13 districts.

It is feared that the request of the State government, if conceded, would reduce the forest cover by about 10 per cent. In the focus areas of Krishna and Guntur districts, there are 56 Forest Blocks. Denotification of the forest cover in as many as 41 blocks out of 56 in the two districts of Krishna and Guntur, spreading across 20 sqkm remains the biggest ever act by the Central government, in India’s history.

The Kondapalli forest, which spreads over an area of over 62 sqkm in the Krishna district gets completely eliminated. This forest area is known for rich biodiversity including plants, animals, reptiles and birds. It is feared that in addition to Kondapalli forest, forest cover located in the nearby areas such as Adavi Nekkalam, G Konduru, Kothur also disappear.

Further, there will be no scope for the animals and reptiles coming from nearby forest areas like Ashwaraopet, Jangareddy Gudem, Buttaigudem located in Khammam district. Besides, several creeks and natural water bodies are likely to be erased from the map. This may prove fatal to the course of the Krishna River.

The performance of the States in respect of compensatory afforestation is thoroughly unsatisfactory. Despite the investment of more than Rs 4,600 crore during the last three decades, the results are very poor. This dismal performance has prompted the Supreme Court to fix responsibility of compensatory afforestation on the Government of India. Added to this, there is the problem of encroachment of forest lands on large-scale.

As per the information released to the press, of the 34,000 hectares of land located in 33 blocks of Guntur district, 8,300 hectares are already under encroachment in the hands of 12,853 persons. Similarly, of the area of 49,000 hectares in Krishna district, around 10,000 hectares are in the hands of 16,166 persons.

It becomes herculean for the government to evacuate all these persons and take the possession of the land. It is, therefore, high time that the Central Advisory Committee handling this issue at present took an objective view of the things and decided the matter.

By: Prof K Viyyanna Rao
(Writer is Former Vice-Chancellor, Acharya Nagarjuna University)