The Hindu : Other States / Madhya Pradesh News : Claims over timber revenue lack clarity

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Friday, Aug 20, 2004

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Claims over timber revenue lack clarity

By Our Staff Correspondent

BHOPAL, AUG. 19. The Madhya Pradesh Government is finding itself in a piquant situation and there is considerable ambiguity regarding the situation vis-à-vis the exploitation and utilization of timber from the submergence area of the Indira Sagar project on the Narmada.

The Chief Minister, Uma Bharti, had told newspersons here on June 26 that timber worth over Rs. 400 crores would be lost in the Indira Sagar dam's submergence area due to the laxity of the State forest department officials. This disclosure was followed up by a statement from the State Principal Secretary Forest, Avani Vaish, which came as a virtual contradiction of what the Chief Minister had stated on the status of forests in the submergence area. The official statement said that the accumulated timber through the logging of forest in the submergence area was lying above the submergence height of 245 meters and was safe for being transported even after the monsoon season.

The statement further pointed out that over Rs. 350 crores had been generated through the felling of timber in the submergence zone and the estimated worth of trees that had not been cut in this area was only about Rs. 22 lakhs. The statement added that the entire forest that was to come under submergence by June 2004 had been cut as early as June 2003 and till the arrival of monsoon this year, 500,000 square cubic meter of teak had been removed from the submergence area and transported to the collection depots.

Close on the heels of this official statement, the former Narmada Valley Development Authority Chairman, Sharad Jain, who was also an Advisor to the Asian Development Bank, has sent a note to the Chief Minister asserting that the State Government's projected revenue from the exploitation of forests in the Indira Sagar dam's submergence zone would fall short by about Rs. 590 crores if one were to consider the actual price of teak that has been exploited from that area.

Dr. Jain has written to the Chief Minister drawing her attention towards the proposal that had been submitted to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest in 1984 for securing environmental clearance for the Indira Sagar Project and said that on the basis of the 1984 prices, revenue to the tune of Rs. 320 crores was estimated to be generated from the logging of teak and timber in the submergence zone.

Dr. Jain told The Hindu that the value of teak felled in the submergence zone at current prices would come to around Rs. 940 crores. In 1984, the price of teak was around Rs. 4000 per cubic meter whereas now it has gone up to Rs. 12,000 per cubic meter. The price of even fuel wood has gone up three times during this period, he pointed out.

Dr. Jain said that there should be a probe to find out where the timber worth over Rs. 590 crores disappeared or whether it got submerged due to the callousness of the Government authorities.

The need for a probe arises due to the projection by the government official that only Rs. 350 crores would be generated by the felling of timber in the submergence zone.

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Claims over timber revenue lack clarity