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Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad
By Our Special Correspondent
Addressing a press conference on Saturday, State BJP general secretary, K. Laxman, and the official spokesperson, Parakala Prabhakar, contended that the circular of the Ministry of Environment dated May 3, 2002, was `distorted' to fuel a propaganda that it was aimed at dislodging tribals in possession of forest lands. They asserted that the Central Government's directive to the States was to evict the encroachers, `who represent power lobbies' and there was no reference to the tribals and others dependant on forest lands. It was issued in pursuance of a Supreme Court order dated November 23, 2001, expressing concern at the "pernicious practice'' of encroaching the forest land and restraining the Government from regularising the same. A campaign of disinformation was launched that the circular was issued to force their tribals out of the forest lands and deprive them of their source of livelihood. The circular does not take away the inalienable right of the tribals over the forest lands, the BJP leaders pointed out. They deplored the statements by the Left parties and some NGOs `distorting the contents' of the circular. Mr. Prabhakar said if any State Goverment tried to misuse the circular to evict the tribals, the BJP would not keep quiet. He said the State BJP president had written to the Prime Minister and the Central leaders of the party urging them to restrain the States from using the circular against the tribals. He said the Central leaders were urged to take note of the apprehensions and re-issue the circular, if necessary, with some clarifications. The circular was intended to curb the commercial activity by the real estate and timber lobbies, he added. Mr. Prabhakar said the circular had made it clear that all forest encroachments, which are not eligible for regularisation as per guidelines issued by the Ministry on September 10, 1990, should be summarily cleared in a time-bound manner and in any case by September 30, 2002. Ganga-Cauvery link favoured: The two BJP leaders endorsed the Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu's proposal that the scheme of linking the Ganga with the Cauvery, mooted by late K.L. Rao in the Seventies, be revived. Mr. Laxman said the Ganga-Cauvery link assumed great significance in view of the river water disputes, especially among the Southern States, and the inability of these States to fully utilise water allotted to them under the Godavari and Krishna river systems by the tribunals. He said the BJP wanted steps taken to initiate scheme of linking the Ganga with the Cauvery. At least the debate, started by the Chief Minister, should be continued. The BJP leaders said that only 100 lakh acres out of the 350 lakh acres of arable land in the State was brought under cultivation because the irrigation potential was not fully exploited. Of the 1,480 tmcft of Godavari waters allotted to the State under the Bachawat tribunal, only about 650 tmcft had been utilised till now. Under the Krishna system, though projects were built fully utilising the 811 tmcft allotted to the State, the reservoirs had gone dry as water was not released by Karnataka. Linking of the rivers should begin with the Godavari and the Krishna, the BJP leaders demanded.
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