No more ‘deemed forests’, says Odisha government

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 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.

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.

“The amended Act clearly specifies and defines forest. The concept of deemed forest is now removed,” says an August 11 letter by Satyabrata Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary, Forest and Environment Department, Odisha.

Also read | Facing the axe: new ‘forest’ definition makes large tracts vulnerable

Protection under the Forest Act means that land cannot be diverted without the consent of the Centre as well as gram panchayats in the regions concerned. It also puts the onus on those diverting land to grow trees on an equivalent plot of land twice the razed area, along with a significant monetary penalty, thus acting as a deterrent to deforestation.

The Forest Act, 1980, now renamed as the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam — translated as Forest Conservation and Augmentation — only accorded protection to forest that is notified so in government and revenue records on or after 1980. In 1996, the Supreme Court expanded the remit of the Act to areas that weren’t notified as forest but conformed to the “dictionary” definition of forests.

States were expected to form expert committees and identify plots of land that were encapsulated under this definition. However not all States submitted these reports, leaving considerable leeway to States to define, or leave out large parcels of land from the definition of forest.