tantrik tandab

Five community forests in the region have not been renewed by the government due to the second amendment on Environment Protection Regulation in 2007, which affected their Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Licences of community forests situated in village councils of Kailash, Gadaray, Kotdewal, Rilu and Hemantawada haven’t been renewed. Until the government extends permission or renews licence of permitted forest land, locals cannot make use of forest resources. For beneficiaries of the forest, they said that the clear-cut provision of forest handover stated in the rule had been misinterpreted by District Forest Office (DFO). “We have been barred from utilising forest resources. There is no such provision in the rule that bars us from taking forest resources,” said Deji Jung Singh, president of Shree Binayak Community Forest