New Delhi: “Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) does not implement any scheme for plantations along the highway sides and on vacant land along railway tracks. The National Forest Policy (NFP), 1988 encourages plantation of trees alongside roads, railway lines, rivers, streams, canals etc. under social forestry. The Ministry in consonance with the NFP, 1988, has issued an advisory to State Forest Departments for partnering with Railways and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) subject to the feasibility for taking up plantation of trees along the highway sides and vacant areas by the side of railway tracks. MoEF&CC also circulated Model Guidelines to all States/UTs for plantation on Railway land and plantation on sides of National Highways.
The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has promulgated Green Highways (Plantation, Transplantation, Beautification & Maintenance) Policy-2015, under which plantations have been initiated in collaboration with Forest Departments and other agencies. No separate funds are earmarked for plantations along National Highways. Plantations are part of all National Highway projects and are undertaken as per the relevant contract provisions within the Right of Way of a national highway.
As per the information provided by Ministry of Railways, tree plantation is being done on Railway land on regular basis. At present an area of 41,417 hectares of Railway land is under afforestation.
Besides this, Ministry of Railways has also finalized a model agreement in consultation with Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to be entered between Zonal Railways and respective State Forest Department in January, 2016 for plantation of trees on Railway land along the railway track and station yards without transferring the ownership of the land in favour of State Forest Department. As per the provisions of the model Agreement, cost of the plantation including its protection and maintenance can be borne by State Forest Department or Railway Administration or can be shared by both. The plantation work on Railway land along the railway track has already been started under this agreement in some of the States. During the year 2017-18 (up to January 2018) Rs.85.25 lakh saplings have already been planted. The expenditure on plantation is done as part of maintenance of way and works. For plantation Rs.72.25 Crs. has been allotted during 2017-18 to all zones of Indian Railways.
The National Forest Policy (NFP), 1988 also envisages that tribal people and forests have a symbiotic relationship and therefore, it is the primary task of all agencies responsible for forest management, including the forest development corporations to associate the tribal people closely in protection, regeneration and development of forests as well as to provide gainful employment to people living in and around the forest. Further, to increase the forest cover in the country, afforestation programme is taken up under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes such as National Afforestation Programme (NAP), Green India Mission (GIM), Mahatma Gandhi Natinoal Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Integrated Watershed Mangement Programme (IWMP) which from 2015-16 has been amalgamated as the Watershed Development Component of the “Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojna (PMKSY)”and under Compensatory Afforstation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).
MOEF&CC for afforestation and to increase forest cover in the country implements two Centrally Sponsored Schemes namely, National Afforestation Programme (NAP) and National Mission on a Green India (GIM). While NAP is being implemented for afforestation of degraded forest lands, GIM aims at improving the quality of forest/increase in forest cover besides cross-sectoral activities on landscape basis. These two schemes involve local people through Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMC) at the village level in the afforestation efforts and decision making in their area of implementation”.
This information was given by Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Mahesh Sharma in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
