Forest bill report may be tabled in monsoon session

The Joint Committee of Parliament reviewing the Forest (Conservation) Amendment bill 2023 is set to table its report during the upcoming monsoon session which starts on July 20, according to people familiar with the matter. The final meeting of the Committee was held on June 26 and the bill was taken up, clause by clause.

- Jayashree Nandi

According to some members, opposition MPs within the Parliament Committee which has 31 members have dissented to specific clauses. The Parliament Committee also received a large number of representations from people in the North-east, asking that the region be exempt from certain clauses in the bill.

That was only to be expected because the bill says prior forest clearance isn't needed in some cases, including for forest land situated within a distance of 100 km along international borders or Line of Control or Line of Actual Control, and which are to be used for construction of strategic linear project of national importance. Almost all of the North-east would fall in this category.

The amendment bill also exempts from seeking prior forest clearance, strip forests (up to 0.10 hectares or ha) situated alongside a rail line or a public road maintained by the government; tree plantations on private lands that are not categorised as forests; up to 5 ha area proposed to be used for construction of defence related or public utility projects in a Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected area.