Weddings in forests may not require Centre’s permit anymore
In a letter dated October 11 addressed to forest secretaries of states and union territories, the environment ministry said all such temporary activities can be conducted with approval of the divisional forest officer (DFO) of the range.
Weddings, exhibitions, concerts, film shoots and other events of a temporary nature may now be allowed inside forests without the requirement of prior permission from the Centre under the Forest Conservation Act.
The letter said the ministry had been receiving communications on whether the Forest Conservation Act applied to temporary activities inside forests.
“The matter has been examined in detail in the ministry and it has been decided that temporary work in forest land which does not involve part of any protected area, breaking up or clearing of forest land or portion thereof, assigning by way of lease or otherwise to firm, organization or a person and does not create any right over such forest land…will not require prior approval of central government under the FC Act,” the letter added.
Only 23% of India’s over 700,000 sq km of forest cover falls in the protected category.
Environment ministry officials said that such temporary activities were allowed in forest areas through a guideline issued in 2014. The guideline has only been reissued now.
“We have reissued the guideline because it was not published in the handbook of guidelines we had released. There were queries on whether such activities can take place so we have clarified. There are many areas recorded as forests but there is no tree growth. For example, people can hold an exhibition there without tampering with the characteristics of the land. Such temporary use is allowed only for 10 to 15 days,” said Siddhanta Das, director general of forests.
Experts raised concerns about the impact of such activities on biodiversity and forest dwellers.
Experts said permitting temporary activities should be read together with the relaxation on permissions for linear projects in forest areas in 2017. The ministry, in a letter to all states and UTs, had said that “in-principle” approval under the Forest Conservation Act should be deemed as working permission for tree cutting and commencement of work for linear projects. Impact on breeding or migration cycles of wildlife were raised even in 2017 following the order on linear projects.
The Forest Conservation Act defines “non-forest” activities as any purpose other than reafforestation, but does not include any work relating to or ancillary to conservation, development and management of forests and wildlife, namely, the establishment of check-posts, fire lines (an area cleared of all flammable material), wireless communication and so on.
Originally published by Hindustan Times
