Give up objections to leasing forest land to Mysore paper mill, Centre urged

The state government on Tuesday appealed to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to withdraw objections to leasing over 20,000 hectares of forest land to Mysore Paper Mills. 

Founded in 1937, Mills relied, and relies on, 22,617 hectares of land leased to the company for harvesting pulpwood; of these, 20,0005.42 hectares belongs to forest department. The lease on the latter parcel of land expired in 2020. Although the state renewed the lease for a further 40 years in August 2020, the MoEF&CC raised objections. 

Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre, meeting his Union counterpart Bhupender Yadav in Delhi on Tuesday, urged the latter to end the impasse at the earliest.