Zudpi jungle issue haunts Vidarbha's development



(Published in The Hitavada on March 17, 2013)

Vid awaits denotification of 1,02,718 Ha of zudpi jungle

* In 2011, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and the then Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had granted in-principle approval to de-notification of 32,230 Ha of fragmented zudpi jungle land. However, nothing has happened so far.

By Kartik Lokhande
The honest one has to wait longer in any queue. This appears to be the norm, at least for Vidarbha. The region that has protected forests better than other regions in Maharashtra, is yet to see de-notification of land classified as ‘zudpi jungle’. And, this delay in de-notification has actually affected availability of space for developmental projects. As per the latest estimate, around 1,02,718 hectares of ‘zudpi jungle’ in Nagpur Division alone is awaiting de-notification.
‘Zudpi jungle’ tangle is haunting Vidarbha for long. When the region was annexed to Maharashtra in 1960, the grazing grounds (Gaayraan) were classified as ‘zudpi jungle’ and thus as forest in Maharashtra. Though this land comes under Revenue Department, the usage of word forest for it, makes it essential to obtain forest clearance for any project requiring this land. As a result, the issue became a contentious one for over 50 years for Vidarbha region. Many irrigation, industrial, and mining projects could not see light of the day as the projects failed to get forest clearance. According to Revenue Department officials, land classified as ‘zudpi jungle’ actually has very little forest now.
As per the latest data with Revenue Department, six districts in Nagpur Division have a total of 1,78,525.17 hectares of land classified as ‘zudpi jungle’. Of this, proposal for de-notification of 1,02,718 hectares has been submitted to the State Government already. Sources said that the State Government also had forwarded the proposal to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. In fact, in 2011, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and the then Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had met at Nagpur to discuss the issue. Soon after the meeting, Chavan had announced that Ramesh had granted ‘in-principle’ approval to de-notification of 32,230 hectares of ‘zudpi jungle’ area fragmented in pockets less than three hectares. “However, nothing has happened since then,” said an officer familiar with the issue.
Of the total area of zudpi jungle, 16,309.99 hectares area is under the category of ‘previously notified’ area. It means, this much of area was previouly zudpi jungle but was later converted to forest land. At present, 32,339.81 hectares of zudpi jungle is in fragments of area less than three hectares. Of remaining land, 27,507.34 hectares is under encroachment, and 26.672.17 hectares is under non-forest use. Clubbing the fragmented area, encroached area, and that in non-forest use, a total of 1,02,718 hectares of zudpi jungle land is to be de-notified. This leaves, 75,806.78 hectares land as purely ‘zudpi jungle’. “Of the remaining 75,806.78 hectares land also, much of the area has been handed over to Forest Department already,” said the official.
Owing to delay in getting the proposal for de-notification cleared, industrial projects and irrigation projects in some belts are hit. The situation is so tricky that the encroachments on zudpi jungle area cannot be cleared at many places. Even the land in use for non-forest purposes, like Government offices, crematorium, public utility etc is of no use for projects. This leaves very little zudpi jungle land that could be used for industrial or developmental projects even after de-notification.

Zudpi Jungle in Nagpur Division

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District         Zudpi Area     Area to be denotified     Remaining zudpi area

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Nagpur         32,610 Ha          17,399.15 Ha         15,210.86 Ha

Wardha        22,620.34 Ha     12,075.64 Ha         10,544.70 Ha

Bhandara &

Gondia          87,409.06 Ha     49,911.01 Ha         37,498.05 Ha

Chandrapur   20.825.53 Ha     14,606.20 Ha           6,219.33 Ha

Gadchiroli     15,060.24 Ha        8,726.40 Ha           6,333.84 Ha

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Total           1,78,525.17 Ha       1,02,718 Ha         75,806.78 Ha

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