Parliament expected to take up forest bill in Monsoon Session's first week

Parliament is expected to take up the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill in the Monsoon Session's first week as a joint committee of parliamentarians examining the proposed law's provisions adopted its report on Tuesday amid dissents by some opposition members.

The committee's chairperson Rajendra Agarwal said its report has been adopted and it will now be tabled in Parliament in the upcoming session. He, however, declined to give details of the report.

The bill was introduced by Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav in the Budget Session this year. It seeks to exempt certain categories of lands from the purview of the Forest Conservation Act to fast-track strategic and security-related projects of national importance.

Some rights groups and opposition parties have criticised its provisions, asserting that these will compromise safeguards for the country's forests.

Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi, a member of the committee, said he has given a dissent note against several provisions of the final report.

A few other opposition MPs have also expressed their dissent, sources said.

The Congress had earlier vociferously opposed the decision to send the bill to a joint committee, a parliamentary panel constituted specifically to study a matter, instead of the standing committee on science and technology, environment, forests and climate change, which is headed by its Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh.