Land under agriculture in 2005 now has plantations on it, potentially violating the Forest Rights Act, and land with natural growth has been cleared for plantations.
Case Analysis
This site, Kurbij, is one of three compensatory afforestation sites which are supposed to compensate for the diversion of 135.8 ha of forest land for adding lanes to NH-33 (Hazaribagh-Ranchi Section).
The Kurbij site is 140 Ha of “degraded notified forest” in Patratu Range. The budget of rs 137,77,891 was reported to have been spent on 2,33,240 saplings in a 7-year project starting in 2012 (60 rs/sapling). The saplings were 5 different species in equal parts.
Satellite Imagery Analysis
The satellite imagery shows a forest covering most of the demarcated area with some agricultural plots visible before 2005. Between December 2012 and March 2014 agricultural lands are visibly planted over.
Implications
Land visibly under agriculture in 2005 has been taken up for plantations potentially violating the Forest Rights Act
Land visibly under natural forest growth has been cleared and used for plantations violating the Compensatory afforestation guidelines
e-Green Watch Record
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