‘86,409 hectares of zudpi jungle land to be made available for deforestation’
Staff Reporter
The issue of zudpi jungle has since long proven to be a big hurdle in the all-round development of Vidarbha region. A total of 1,78,000 hectares of land was spread across six districts of Vidarbha under the category of ‘zudpi jungle’. The Government has divided the land into two categories, and this will make available 86,409 hectares of zudpi land for deforestation to pave way for various projects, said Sudhir Mungantiwar, Forest and Finance and Planning Minister.
Mungantiwar was replying to a debate on supplementary demands in Legislative Assembly on Monday. He informed the House that 92,116 hectares of the zudpi land actually had forest on it. Hence, that land will be given to Forest Department for forest management purposes. As far as deforestation of 86,409 hectares of land was concerned, Revenue Department has been asked to prepare tehsil-wise proposals.
So far, Revenue Department has submitted 342 proposals. But, as the proposals had shortcomings, the officials have been asked to file compliances. “On our part, action is in progress to clear the hurdles in the way of Vidarbha development. We hope that the process is completed by April 2016. If the Revenue Department proposals are not received till then, we will press for a time frame,” Mungantiwar said.
On the issue of lack of vehicles to Range Forest Officers (RFOs), the Forest Minister said that there were total 472 forest ranges in Maharashtra. At present, 100 of them had vehicles and the Government was giving 100 more vehicles. Besides, financial provision was made for 180 more vehicles. Terming the solar fencing as not much beneficial, he said that the Government was thinking if some other kind of fencing could be done to protect the agricultural crop of farmers from the wildlife.
Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Leader of Opposition; Prithviraj Chavan, former Chief Minister; Ajit Pawar, former Deputy Chief Minister; Shashikant Shinde, Shivajirao Naik, Subhash Patil, Sanjay Kelkar, Rahul Kul, Kisan Kathore, Rana Jagjitsingh, Vijay Wadettiwar, Rajesh Tope, Jayprakash Mundada, Sheikh Asif, Narayan Patil, Vaibhav Naik, Sardar Tara Singh, Bachchu Kadu, Rajabhau Waje, Abu Azmi, Yashomati Thakur, and other members participated in the discussion on supplementary demands for Home, Revenue, Forest, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development, Fisheries, School Education, Sports, and Urban Development departments.
No question of removing reservations: Tawde
Replying to the issues raised during discussion on supplementary demands, Vinod Tawde, Education Minister, said that there was no reservation in schools. So, there is no question of removing it, he said. “However, some people are purposely trying to make an issue out of removing the draft of Education Policy. Those running the schools and having political connections are trying to make an issue out of non-existent reservation,” he said. Further, he said that school uniforms would be distributed to eligible students at least eight days prior to school re-opening from this year. Also, he added, the Government was thinking of absorbing eligible sportspersons in Sports Department so that their expertise could be put to better use.
The issue of zudpi jungle has since long proven to be a big hurdle in the all-round development of Vidarbha region. A total of 1,78,000 hectares of land was spread across six districts of Vidarbha under the category of ‘zudpi jungle’. The Government has divided the land into two categories, and this will make available 86,409 hectares of zudpi land for deforestation to pave way for various projects, said Sudhir Mungantiwar, Forest and Finance and Planning Minister.
Mungantiwar was replying to a debate on supplementary demands in Legislative Assembly on Monday. He informed the House that 92,116 hectares of the zudpi land actually had forest on it. Hence, that land will be given to Forest Department for forest management purposes. As far as deforestation of 86,409 hectares of land was concerned, Revenue Department has been asked to prepare tehsil-wise proposals.
So far, Revenue Department has submitted 342 proposals. But, as the proposals had shortcomings, the officials have been asked to file compliances. “On our part, action is in progress to clear the hurdles in the way of Vidarbha development. We hope that the process is completed by April 2016. If the Revenue Department proposals are not received till then, we will press for a time frame,” Mungantiwar said.
On the issue of lack of vehicles to Range Forest Officers (RFOs), the Forest Minister said that there were total 472 forest ranges in Maharashtra. At present, 100 of them had vehicles and the Government was giving 100 more vehicles. Besides, financial provision was made for 180 more vehicles. Terming the solar fencing as not much beneficial, he said that the Government was thinking if some other kind of fencing could be done to protect the agricultural crop of farmers from the wildlife.
Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Leader of Opposition; Prithviraj Chavan, former Chief Minister; Ajit Pawar, former Deputy Chief Minister; Shashikant Shinde, Shivajirao Naik, Subhash Patil, Sanjay Kelkar, Rahul Kul, Kisan Kathore, Rana Jagjitsingh, Vijay Wadettiwar, Rajesh Tope, Jayprakash Mundada, Sheikh Asif, Narayan Patil, Vaibhav Naik, Sardar Tara Singh, Bachchu Kadu, Rajabhau Waje, Abu Azmi, Yashomati Thakur, and other members participated in the discussion on supplementary demands for Home, Revenue, Forest, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development, Fisheries, School Education, Sports, and Urban Development departments.
No question of removing reservations: Tawde
Replying to the issues raised during discussion on supplementary demands, Vinod Tawde, Education Minister, said that there was no reservation in schools. So, there is no question of removing it, he said. “However, some people are purposely trying to make an issue out of removing the draft of Education Policy. Those running the schools and having political connections are trying to make an issue out of non-existent reservation,” he said. Further, he said that school uniforms would be distributed to eligible students at least eight days prior to school re-opening from this year. Also, he added, the Government was thinking of absorbing eligible sportspersons in Sports Department so that their expertise could be put to better use.
(14-12-15)
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