Mumbai: The state revenue department has earmarked more than 1 lakh acres of degraded forest tracts and non-forest parcels statewide for compensatory afforestation.
State revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule told reporters on Wednesday that 82,640 acres of degraded forest land and 18,865 acres of revenue land are available for compensatory afforestation. While selecting land for afforestation, it is first verified that the land is free of encroachment and disputes and only then added to the land bank list, he said.
The land bank will make it easy to identify land for compensatory afforestation in a district. The district collector can make the land available for compensatory afforestation for a particular project. “This will help avoid delay and make the process smooth for land transfer,” said Bawankule.
Since no land is available in Mumbai city and suburbs for afforestation, land has been identified in Palghar, Thane and Raigad for the purpose. Thane has 279 hectares of degraded forest land, Palghar 358 hectares and Raigad 75 hectares. Around 408 hectares of non-forest land have been listed.
Alternative afforestation sites are transferred to the forest department by the authorities concerned and after completion of process under Indian Forest Act, 1927, the land is notified as reserved forest, said Bawankule.
Govt will introduce a bill for land titles and vertical property card during the winter session of the state legislature. The revenue department will provide landowners with a QR code that will contain the complete history of the plot. The vertical property card will provide the area of each flat in a building, along with details of ownership of land share on which a building stands.
