The Odisha government has sent a letter to district officials underlining that industry requests to divert forest land for non-forestry purposes now ought to conform with the amended Forest Act and that ‘deemed forests’ as a category would cease to exist.
(Deemed forest is forest land that hasn’t been recorded as such by the Centre or States. The 1996 Godavarman verdict by the Supreme Court enjoined States to bring in such unrecorded land that conformed to the ‘dictionary’ meaning of forest.)
Nearly half of Odisha’s forest land was ‘deemed forest,’ experts told The Hindu and the Odisha government’s interpretation of the Forest Act would end up accelerating the razing of forests. The Odisha government’s order likely conflicts with the Environment Ministry’s assurances to a parliamentary committee that ‘deemed forest’ would continue to be protected.
