Govt to Reserve 600 Acres of Aarey Land as Forest

Nearly a year after the public outcry over felling of trees in Aarey land near the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in suburban Mumbai, the Maharashtra government has decided to reserve a 600-acre parcel of land out of the sprawling 3,162 acres as a reserved forest. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said the forest would be the first example of a “huge jungle” being conserved at the centre of a megapolis. He announced that the area would be reserved as a forest to safeguard the rights of Adivasis living here. Over 10,000 people live in 27 Adivasi hamlets in this eco-sensitive zone. The area earmarked for the car shed, however, is excluded from the reserved land. The government said that the decision on the excluded land will be taken after seeking suggestions and objections from citizens. However, constructions of all types, roads – slums, Adivasi pockets and government facilities – will be excluded from the first phase of the initiative. The government has invoked Section 4 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, which gives them the power to “constitute any land a reserved forest”. This is done by issuing a notification in the Official Gazette. Once notified, the government has to next appoint a forest settlement officer (FSO) “to inquire into and determine the existence, nature and extent of any rights alleged to exist in favour of any person in or over any land comprised within such limits or in or over any forest-produce, and to deal with the same”. The FSO has to deliberate on the issue along with the dwellers of the land, and only then the process of notifying a land as reserved forest is completed.