[Tongam Rina]
PASIGHAT, 24 Feb: Arunachal’s embarrassing performance at the National Green Tribunal (NGT) continued as the state government showed up without affidavits during the virtual hearing in the Jorjo Tana Tara versus Union of India & Ors case pertaining to logging on 23 February.
As the PCCF forgot to file the documents on affidavit, the court directed that the chief secretary make sure that Arunachal files documents in affidavits.
Judicial member Amit Sthalekar and expert member Saibal Dasgupta’s bench while listing the case for hearing on 5 April directed that the order be placed before the chief secretary of Arunachal Pradesh with a direction that all the documents that have been filed on behalf of the state of Arunachal Pradesh shall only be filed through affidavits within a period of one month.
The current PCCF of Arunachal is RK Singh.
“We find that all the documents that have been filed so far on behalf of the state respondents have been filed without swearing on affidavit. We also find that the principal chief conservator of forest, department of environment, government of Arunachal Pradesh, has also filed certain documents but none of those documents have been filed on affidavit,” the bench observed.
It directed that all affidavits be filed before the next date of listing.
The court also noted the absence of Anil Shrivastava, “who is stated to be the counsel for state of Arunachal Pradesh. No other counsel for the state of Arunachal Pradesh is present.”
This is not the first time that Arunachal has performed dismally and refused to learn in the NGT’s court after Jorjo Tana had approached the NGT in April 2019 to stop illegal logging being carried out in Papum reserve forest under the Khellong forest division. The Papum reserve forest comes under the buffer zone of the Pakke Tiger Reserve.
In 9 November, 2020, the tribunal’s principal bench had expressed disappointment over the lack of action by the Arunachal government in stopping illegal logging.
“It is quite apparent that there has been hardly any progress made after the order dated 30.08.2019 passed by the tribunal… we had pointed out serious lacunae in the administration of the forest area by the state. Even the directions of the Supreme Court do not appear to have been complied with,” read the order.
In August 2019, the NGT had directed the state to take appropriate action to identify the “hotspots” where illegal felling of trees and deforestation are taking place.
Earlier, in its report to the NGT in 2019, the state’s forest department had admitted that illicit felling of trees was continuing in the Khellong forest division “but not to the extent as has been projected.”
In January 2021, the NGT had said that the state had merely proposed to stop illegal logging but had not taken action.
The illegal logging hotspots identified by the forest department are Bomdila, Khellong, Banderdewa, Pasighat, Namsai, Tezu, Jairampur, Changlang, Deomali and Roing.
The NGT had also suggested that the state may take measures to make use of the forest cover map prepared with the help of satellite imageries issued by the Forest Survey of India, Dehradun, to identify logging hotspots and observe the change in forest cover that has occurred over a time period of 10 years, which would be helpful in evolving an action plan to stop logging.
According to the environment ministry, Arunachal has lost 979 sq kms (97,900 hectares) of forest in the last 10 years.
In response to a question by Rajya Sabha member from Assam, Ripun Bora, on the forest depletion in Northeast India, the ministry said that the Northeast region lost 3,698 square kilometres of forests from 2011 to 2021.
The ministry cited shifting cultivation, natural calamities, anthropogenic pressure and development activities as the reasons behind the loss.
