Field officers facing problems in deforestation of zudpi jungle


* High-level meeting on May 12 to discuss the issue
By Kartik Lokhande 
Following the annoucement of the previous Government that thousands of hectares of zudpi jungle land would be freed for development, people in Vidarbha region were very happy. They were left disappointed on learning that the zudpi jungle to be ‘freed for development’ was only fragmented stretches not useful for forest management. Now, there is one more disappointment for people of Vidarbha -- Field Officers are facing problems while dealing with the problems pertaining to even this zudpi jungle land.
Field Officers of Revenue Department and Forest Department both are facing problems while deciding the proposals for deforestation of identified fragmented zudpi jungle land. “The biggest problem is that the field-level officers are expected to prepare GPS maps of the identified sites and then ensure that they are superimposed on the topo-sheets, so that the portion of zudpi jungle under encroachment or farming use could be identified exactly,” said an official.
The officials sent to prepare GPS maps at different sites are facing another problem. Each of the GPS devices they handle can store only up to 10 maps. As a result, if an official from Nagpur leaves for a spot to prepare GPS map for a fragmented piece of zudpi jungle land, he has to come back to Nagpur once he has got 10 maps. For remaining work pertaining to the same piece of land, he has to visit the place again. At some places, there exists a zudpi jungle stretch of 3 acres between two farm-lands on prevailing maps. However, presently on ground owners of both the adjacent farm-lands have covered some part of this zudpi jungle land, leaving less than 3 acres of zudpi jungle land. “In such a situation, how could we finalise the proposals received?” wondered a field-level officer.
Some time ago, with the initiative of Anoop Kumar, Divisional Commissioner, a workshop was organised for officers dealing with the subject, to enlighten them with procedures for deforestation of fragmented zudpi jungle land. Later on, field-level officers started the work of preparing proposals. But, as they went deeper with the proposals, they started facing the problems. To discuss these issues and try to find out a solution, a high-level meeting has been organised at Van Bhavan here on May 12 at 11 am. The top-level officers of Revenue and Forest Departments will attend the meeting, and discuss the issues threadbare, it is learnt.
As far as Nagpur Division is concerned, so far, a total of 127 proposals have been prepared for deforestation of identified zudpi jungle land. These proposals include 773.46 hectares of zudpi jungle land identified for deforestation, as it is found ‘not suitable’ for forestry purposes. These include 16 proposals involving 475.73 hectares of land in Nagpur district, and 111 proposals involving 297.74 hectares in Gadchiroli district.

Proposals for deforestation of zudpi jungle land 

found not suitable for forestry purposes

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District/Tehsil         Proposals     Area involved

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Nagpur

Umred                           02            44.35 hectares

Katol                             02           170.09 hectares

Saoner                          12            200.11 hectares

Mouda                          --                61.18 hectares


Gadchiroli

Gadchiroli                    --                 65 hectares

Wadsa Desaiganj       13                104.30 hectares

Aheri                           52                24.70 hectares

Etapalli                       46                17.48 hectares

Kurkheda                   --                  75.16 hectares

Chamorshi                  --                  11.09 hectares

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Total                          127                  773.46 hectares 

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(April 28, 2015)

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