The State government has passed an order to declare nearly 23,000 hectares in Ambasamudram taluk in Tirunelveli district as Reserve Forests.
In the government order, Md. Nasimuddin, principal secretary, Environment and Forests, said the proposal of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests for declaring the 23,000 hectares in Singampatti forest block (in the Kalakadu Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve) has been approved and will be declared as Reserve Forests with effect on and from September 19, 2018.
In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 16 of the Tamil Nadu Forest Act 1882, the Governor has declared the area as RF, according to the GO. The notification will be published in English in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette on February 28, 2018 and in Tamil in the Tirunelveli District Gazette on March 14, 2018, the order said.
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In 1978 itself, the government made its intention clear by invoking Section 4 of the Act to convert the land into RF, officials said. However, the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation (BBTC), a lessee for 99 years from February 12, 1929, filed a petition to exclude 3,388 hectares of land (in the core habitat of KMTR) from the limits of the proposed RF.
The Forest Settlement Officer rejected the claim of the company. The BBTC went to the district court which dismissed the petition in 2015. Then a revision petition was filed in the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court. The HC on September 1, 2017 rejected the claims of the company. It granted partial relief allowing it to remain in possession of the leased area till February 11, 2028.
Based on the HC direction, the government has included Survey No. 251 of Zamin Singampatti village leased to the company also as Reserve Forest. The government order clearly states that the claim of the BBTC is admitted taking into consideration the HC order under Section 19A of the Tamil Nadu Estate Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1948 alone which comes to an end on February 11, 2028 or termination of lease, whichever is earlier, after which the BBTC shall have no rights.
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“The government is fully committed to restoration of the original forests. There are multiple benefits. The tigers require a 1,000 sq. km area for breeding and the nearly 3,400 hectares of the BBTC is at the very core of the tiger habitat,” says a senior forest officer. “Besides, the Agasthiarmalai biosphere is a bio-diversity hotspot and the regeneration of forests will go a long way in providing water security to the districts down south,” he emphasises.
Asked why it would take till September to declare the 23,000 hectares as RF, officials said there are procedures to be followed after the notification in the gazette and insisted that the government was fully committed to restore the original forests.
All the right of ways inside the RF will be subjected to approval from the forest department and maintenance of pathways can be made only after getting prior permission from the departments. All the rights will be subjected to the Acts, rules enacted and conditions imposed from time to time, officials said.