Goa State’s private forests on the decline

Vanishing act: State’s private forests on the decline
According To Survey Some Areas Don’t Satisfy Classification Criteria
Preetu Nair | TNN

Panaji: With Goa’s coastal areas becoming prime property, the forest cover over them is fast disappearing. Take the case of Reis Magos in North Goa or Agonda in South Goa, where huge chunks of private forests have disappeared.
“A good deal of the forest has been illegally felled or burnt. Forest department officials say that they can only control what happens on government forests,” said environmentalist Claude Alvares. However, under the Trees Act, 1984, the department does have the power to intervene in private properties if trees are cut. But this is rarely done.
“If Goa continues to lose its greenery, we will lose tourists. We want development but there cannot be blatant cutting of the trees and destruction of natural resources,” said former president of Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), Charles Bonifacio.
Of the total 7031.2 hectares identified as private forest land in the Sawant and Karapurkar committee reports prepared in 1999 and 2002, about 2887 hectares no more fall within the private forest area.
Rubbishing allegations of destruction of private forests to construct homes, president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India, Goa, Datta Naik said, “We will treat private forests as eco-sensitive zones. However, there is confusion regarding private forest areas as the survey is incomplete and is ambiguous. But once the area is earmarked, we will definitely adhere to the rules and regulations”.
Data submitted by the forest department in the high court reveals that while in Siolim 133 hectares were identified as private forest by Sawant and Karapurkar committees, only 4.40 hectares remain. In Arpora, of 50 hectares, only 3.9 are now earmarked as private forest land. In Pernem, of the 10 hectares earmarked as private forest, nothing remains. The same is the case with Agonda which had 15 hectares of private forest.
Of the 120 hectares private forest land at Pomburpa only 8.16 hectares remain, while in Siridao of the 44 hectares identified, only 2 hectares are now identified as private forest.
The situation in rural Goa is not very good either. In Poinguinim, of the 385 hectares earmarked as private forest, only 106 hectares remain. In Bainguinim, of the 50 hectares, now 19 hectares come under private forest area. Of the 60 hectares private forest in Pilerne, only 20 hectares remain. In Raia, of the 25 hectares earmarked by Sawant and Karapurkar committee, only 6.80 hectares forest has been identified. Loutolim, Sulcorna and several other villages have lost more than half of their private forest cover.
According to forest officials, a survey of several private forest areas revealed that they were found to be non-forest areas as they didn’t satisfy the criteria for classification as forest land. But environmentalist Rajendra Kerkar alleged, “Private forests have been destroyed to give way to development projects and siltation will soon increase”.
However, Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Nitin Kunkolienker said, “To state that private forests have been destroyed for construction would be wrong. Earlier, wrong data of private forests was given. But after the survey, the correct picture is coming forward,” he added.
September 5, 2008, The Times of India, Goa edition