Entire forests in the State might die in the future if immediate steps are not taken to arrest the spread of exotic and invasive species, the Madras High Court wrote on Friday and directed the Centre as well as the State government to use the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) funds to annihilate such species.
Justices V. Bharathidasan and N. Sathish Kumar ordered that tribal communities and others, who live in coexistence with the forests and wildlife in and around national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, tiger reserves and reserved forests, must be engaged to eradicate the invasive species and restore the native shola forests and grasslands.
Though the Centre argued that the work of removal of exotic and invasive species could not be undertaken under the MGNREGS, the judges rejected such submission on the ground that ‘afforestation’ was one of the activities permitted under the scheme. They said, afforestation could not be given the constrictive meaning of planting saplings alone.
