Now, fair share for forest-dwellers

In a move to strengthen the joint forest management committees, the Maharashtra cabinet has decided that forest-dwellers will now be eligible for a share of all forest produce excluding wood. The joint forest management committees comprise forest-dwellers and forest department officials, who are charged with looking after the forest and increasing forest cover.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said those committees that have looked after a particular forest for a minimum of five years will be eligible to share in the royalty earned from the sale of forest produce. Non-wood forest produce includes honey, lac, gum, mahua, seeds, herbal products, leaves, etc, all of which have a variety of uses.

At present, there are 12,500 joint forest management committees in the state. The CM also declared that the state government was determined to increase the state’s forest cover and 100 crore saplings would be planted across the state.

Chavan also announced that the state would develop a world-class wildlife sanctuary at Gorhe village near Nagpur. An area of 28.37 hectare had been earmarked for the sanctuary that would have Indian and African safaris, river rides, and other facilities.

Meanwhile, the state government has extended the time limit to one year its rule that all aspirants for political office must have proper private toilets. The state government had rule in January last that all members of local councils - panchayats, zilla parishad, municipal councils, etc - must have private, properly constructed toilets at their homes to be eligible for public office.
The government had then said that those who did not have such toilets must build a toilet within 90 days. If they failed to do so, they would be disqualified from holding office and a few months, ago, some 1500 members of various local councils were disqualified.

But on Wednesday, the CM announced that the period had been extended to one year. He said those members who had been disqualified would be reinstated.  It turns out that around 26,000 members still don’t have toilets. The decision seems to have been taken with an eye on the upcoming local polls, due across Maharashtra in February next.