By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The Cabinet approved the proposed Meghalaya Forest Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2012 to have clarity on the definition of the areas which would be considered as Forest.
“We have decided to bring this proposed amendment since presently we do not have a clear definition to define the forest areas. Through this amendment, we would be able to clearly define the forest and non-forest areas,” Forest and Environment Minister Prestone Tynsong told reporters after a Cabinet meeting here on Tuesday.
He said that this amendment would also be able to avoid similar confusion over the allegation that cement plants in Jaintia Hills are operating inside forest areas.
When asked if this amendment would affect the operation of cement plants in Jaintia Hills, he denied the same, saying that the Government had already constituted a high level committee (HLC) to probe into the allegations that many of the cement plants are operating in forest areas.
On the status of the probe, Tynsong said that the Committee has submitted its findings to the government and the report would be made public soon.
Meanwhile, in the proposed amendment, a new clause (10) has been inserted (Section 3 of the Act) which stated an area would be ‘forest’ if it is a compact or continuous tract of minimum 4 hectares of land irrespective of ownership and where more than 250 naturally growing trees per hectare with size of 15 cm at breast height or more than 100 naturally growing bamboo clumps per hectare are present in case of the tracts containing predominantly sympodial bamboo.
The proposed amendment bill would be tabled in the upcoming three-day Assembly Session scheduled to start from December 11.