RS members contest govt claim of increase in forest cover

New Delhi, Mar 10 (UNI) The government's claim that the forest cover in the country was increasing was hotly contested by members in the Rajya Sabha today.

The reply of Minister for Forest and Environment Namo Narain Meena to a question on the measures being taken for checking destruction of forests failed to satisfy the questioner, Mr Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena.

He said the Minister had flooded the answer with schemes and projects the government was undertaking to increase the green cover of the country, but the ground reality was that the forests were being destroyed by forest mafia in connivance with officials.

When Mr Meena persisted in his contention based on the Forest Report 2003 that area under the green cover had increased, septuagenarian Dr Karan Singh intervened to tell the Minister that satellite images showing depletion of the forest cover stood in marked contrast to the Minister's claim.

He sought to know from the Minister if his answer was based on monitoring of the latest satellite images.

While maintaining his statistics, the Minister, however, admitted that the forest mafia was active and said so far six lakh cases had been registered under the forest act and a huge quantity of timber seized in the last few years.

He said it was for the state government to take action against the culprits.

The forest cover has increased to 23.68 per cent of the geographical area and the government has a target of increasing it to 25 per cent by the end of 10th plan period, the Minister said.

UNI NAZ LR DB1407