AGARTALA, June 11 (TIWN): National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the Tripura Govt and also to Central Govt over Bru settlement in Forest areas which will cause damage to 2.5 hectares of Forest areas, which is violation of Act 1980, Section 2 under NGT. 

The National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 is an Act of the Parliament of India which enables the creation of a special tribunal to handle the expeditious disposal of the cases pertaining to environmental issues.

The notice was issued to the Forest Dept Principal Secretary and North Tripura DM after a petition filed by one Dhaneswar Debnath.Justice Amit Sthalekar, Shaibal Dasgupta and one more judge heard the petition in a division bench.

"..........The contention of the Applicant is that for resettlement of about 40,000 ‘Bru’ community members who have fled into Tripura, the Government has invited e-tenders dated, 4.11.2020 (Annexure-I) for making certain constructions within a forested area. The further grievance of the Applicant is that this area wherein the Applicant and others resides is under green cover and is a good forest area comprising of more than 250 Ha and it is this forest area over which the construction is sought to be made to resettle the ‘Bru’ community in violation of Section 2 of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. In our opinion, matter requires consideration. At this stage, we issue notice only to Respondent No.4, Principal Secretary, Forest Department, and the  3 Respondent No.6, District Magistrate and Collector, District North Tripura.....", the order Stated.

The next hearing has been scheduled on 14th June.