Going, going, gone: Govt breaks all records, sells one acre of forest for Rs9

When questioned, confused minister says he will order an inquiry.

KARACHI:

Members of the Sindh Assembly were stunned to hear that the government had auctioned off thousands of acres of forest land for Rs9. Its market value would be at least Rs100,000.

The forest department sold around 13,183 acres in the Mirpur Mathelo Guddu Barrage afforestation division.

This earned it Rs131,000, said minister for forests, Syed Ali Nawaz Shah Rizvi, during the question-answer session on Monday.

An incredulous Arif Mustafa Jatoi of the National Peoples Party called it a scam. “How did you award the auction and fix the price for one acre at Rs9 only?” he asked. With a hint of sarcasm in his voice, he said, “I want to buy the same land for Rs200,000 per acre. Can you give it to me?”

This confused the minister who later defended himself by saying he would order an inquiry.

Responding to a query from MPA Heer Ismail Soho who wanted to know about encroachments on forest land, the minister said that it affected 3,342 acres. And 922 acres have been illegally allotted.

He did not name the people who have occupied the forest land in Sindh, but said that they had been trying to repossess the government land.

He said that since the government has declared the Neem tree the “provincial tree of Sindh” they have started planting them in different areas. The government had prepared a plan for that would cost around Rs50 million.

The government has similarly been working on mangroves in the coastal areas. As of June 2010, the plantation has reached 57,032 hectares, ie, 140,929 acres. “The survival rate of the plantation depends on the site conditions,” he explained.

The overall survival rate is around 70 per cent and Rs22.735 million was allocated in the budget for 2009-10 to conserve and develop the Indus delta mangroves.

Around 480 acres have been auctioned for an agro-forestry lease in Sundrani Forest which earned the government Rs1,092,000. Also, Rs96 million has been allocated for the afforestation of Gorakh Hill Station in Dadu district. During the session, the law minister laid down the printed books of the appropriation accounts for the year 2009-10.

The report on biannual monitoring on the implementation of the National Finance Commission (NFC) was also presented in the session.

Besides this, the following ordinances were introduced: Sindh Wildlife Protection (Amendment) Ordinance, Sindh Motion Pictures Ordinance 2011, Sindh Sales Tax on Services (Amendment) Ordinance 2011,  Sindh Service Tribunals Bill 2001, Sindh Madressatul Islam University Bill 2011.

Concluding the agenda, the law minister read the nomination of PML-Q MPA Razzaque Rahimoon as a member of the standing committee of the Sindh Assembly on public health. The speaker prorogued the session indefinitely.

Ordinances introduced

Wildlife Protection (Amendment)

Motion Pictures

Sales Tax on Services (Amendment)

Service Tribunals Bill 2001

Madressatul Islam University Bill

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2011.