Sayaji Shinde questions legal hurdles to planting trees while forest land encroachment goes unchecked
Actor Sayaji Shinde has asked why permission is needed to plant trees in Maharashtra and why the Forest Department does not see encroachment on its own land.
Noted film actor Sayaji Shinde, head of the Sahyadri Devrai Foundation, has expressed displeasure with the administration. He has asked why permission is required to plant trees in Maharashtra and why the law places restrictions on planting them. He also asked whether the Forest Department cannot see the encroachment on forest land.
Through the Sahyadri Devrai Foundation, Shinde has been working on tree plantation (the Devrai Project) in different parts of Maharashtra, including western Maharashtra. He has now begun work in eastern Vidarbha as well. Some gram panchayats in Nagpur district have expressed a wish to work with him and have submitted proposals for a devrai near their villages.
Shinde alleges that Forest Department officials are creating obstacles in this matter by insisting excessively on the law.
In this connection, the Bela gram panchayat in Nagpur district has sought land from the Forest Department for a Sahyadri Devrai near the village, together with Shinde's foundation. The Forest Department has refused to give the land sought by the Bela gram panchayat and the foundation. Department officials say the land is reserved forest, so it cannot be given for a devrai and permission for plantation there cannot be granted either.
Shinde and his associates allege that there are no trees on the land the Forest Department describes as reserved forest. They allege that, instead, some people have encroached on the land and started farming in violation of the rules.
A few days ago, Shinde met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on this issue and sought the Forest Department's cooperation for devrai projects in Maharashtra. The Chief Minister then gave him a letter addressed to all district collectors across the state, directing them to cooperate with Shinde's Devrai Foundation in accordance with the rules.
Shinde alleges that despite this, Forest Department officials are using the rules as a pretext to block the proposed plantation initiative, while showing no concern about the encroachment on their own land.
