Homestead owners in deemed forests of Goa, Mussoorie can build residential units
Experts are worried that allowing construction now, even for personal use, will lead to a construction boom in these private forests
New Delhi: The Union environment ministry has allowed homestead owners in Mussoorie and Goa’s private and deemed forests to construct residential buildings, although the ban on construction of institutional and commercial buildings on such land remains, according to a letter sent to the Uttarakhand and Goa governments.
The construction, previously not allowed, has been made possible because of the latest amendment of the Forest Conservation Act or the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam which exempts unrecorded deemed forests and private plantations from its purview, removing the protection that such areas enjoyed under the older law. These exemptions are also incorporated in a handbook of consolidated guidelines on the amendment.
Experts are worried that allowing construction now, even for personal use, will lead to a construction boom in these private forests and fragment them with roads and houses. Thus, in order to solve a perceived problem, the solution may inadvertently end up creating a bigger environmental concern, they warned.
In a letter published on the ministry’s Parivesh website on December 29, the ministry issued guidelines on homestead owners who can be allowed to construct in private and deemed forest areas of Uttarakhand and Goa. The ministry said: “1. Construction activity for residential purpose in private forest shall be allowed only for domestic purpose and shall not be extended to any institutional buildings or commercial development. 2. Construction activities shall be restricted to a maximum of 250 square metre of built-up area (2,690 sq feet) in each case. 3. Construction of residential buildings in private forest is permitted in Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) areas and other parts of Uttarakhand and Goa only in order to alleviate hardship of homestead owners for constructing/completing their bona fide residential buildings.”
The ministry added that the cut off date for “deciding the status of the homestead” will be February 11, 2011, and the construction cannot be in excess of 250 sq m.
It also clarified that such permissions are subject to conditions such as minimal tree felling, sufficient soil conservation measures being taken, permission of MDDA and other regulatory bodies for construction in hill areas being obtained, and all other standard conditions required for such projects including planting of tree species and paying net present value of the forest area being applicable.
“There are some generic conditions that tree-felling should be minimum and soil conservation measures should be taken. They should have allowed construction based on carrying capacity of the region. If all homestead owners are allowed to construct then obviously there will be major environmental footprint,” said Debadityo Sinha, lead - climate & ecosystems, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.
To be sure, allowing the construction of residential buildings for homesteaders is something that has been in the works since late 2018, when the environment ministry told the Uttarakhand government that the Forest Advisory Committee held a discussion on construction of residential units in Mussoorie’s private forests. The ministry asked the Uttarakhand government to take immediate steps to expedite demarcation of the notified forest area within each estate as per the direction of the Supreme Court.
“The ministry feels that once the non-notified areas of estates are demarcated out then these would fall out of the preview of the Forest Conservation Act,1980 (except deemed forest areas) and these then can be used for any purpose as per the choice of the estate owner,” it said in a September 2018 letter.
“To solve a perceived problem, we should be mindful that we don’t end up creating a bigger environmental concern inadvertently. If people own a private forest in which construction is not allowed, then they have bought it at the price of forest land with its attendant restrictions on construction. To now allow construction even for personal use will lead to a construction boom in these private forests and fragment these forests with roads and houses, expand the footprint of real estate. The government could have instead given small tradable development rights to the extent of 250 yards built up area thus compensating the forest land owners instead of allowing construction,” said Chetan Agarwal, a Gurugram-based forest analyst.
