Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu wrote a letter to the Union Environment, Forests and Climate Change Ministry seeking amendment to the draft National Forest Act 2018 for realising community management of forests and enable the private sector to partner with the Forest Development Corporations (FDCs) to raise their productivity.
Mr. Naidu also wrote to Union Housing Minister Hardeep Singh Puri seeking support to the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) with population less than 1 lakh to improve basic municipal services.
Mr. Naidu stressed on recognising the potential of the people to grow, manage and use forests sustainably. The draft policy provided for public-private partnership (PPP) models for afforestation and reforestation. It was in direct conflict with the policy of promoting social/farm forestry.
Hence, the need for the private sector to partner with the FDCs for technical and financial support.
The Chief Minister said the policy undermined the community forest reserve (CFR) and proposed a new community forest management mission.
It would be parallel to the existing one and takes away power from the communities.
Hence the need for a paradigm shift in the forest department administration. Its role should be facilitator from present owner and regulator.
Urban Local Bodies
He said the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme funding was based on urban population of each State/Union Territory (census 2011) and statutory towns in them.
Though the number of ULBs having population of more than 1 lakh was 32 in Andhra Pradesh, the Union government assistance was only ₹1,056. 62 crore. The assistance given to Tamil Nadu was ₹4,756.58 crore for 33 ULBs and ₹2, 069.96 crore to Gujarat for 31 ULBs. Also, Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan got higher allocations.
Hence, the formula for allocation of funds need to be tweaked to better reflect the number of qualifying ULBs, he added.
