At least six out of the 31 members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, have filed dissent notes, raising an alarm over exemptions extended to significant tracts of land in the draft legislation, even as the panel cleared the controversial Bill without proposing any changes.
The Bill is expected to be tabled in Parliament in the monsoon session that starts on July 20.
The dissenting members are Congress MPs Pradyot Bordoloi (from the Lok Sabha) and Phulo Devi Netam (Rajya Sabha); Trinamool Congress MPs Jawahar Sircar (Rajya Sabha) and Sajda Ahmed (Lok Sabha); and DMK MPs T.R. Baalu and R. Girirajan. The Bill seeks to amend the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, that was brought in to check uncontrolled and unregulated use of forest land for various non-forestry uses.
