JULIAN D'COSTA The annual drives for greening of Goa could soon be in for a major roadblock, as shortage of land for plantations has already hit the state forest ministry. Data shows that the land area under such drives have already reduced by 40 per cent, and could drop further in the years to come. From a total of 710 hectares covered in 1999-2000, only 498.24 hectares were covered in 2007-08 and the department is struggling to take the figure to 450 hectares in the on-going plantation drives for 2008-09. Speaking to Herald, Deputy Conservator of Forests (Planning) Santosh Kumar, IFS, said: "Shortage of land for conducting greening drives is turning out to be a big problem.' He explained that previously communidade lands were available, but no longer. Similarly, owners of private properties are also showing reluctance to lend fallow land for plantation, on the grounds that procedures for nurturing them are getting too tedious and cumbersome. Kumar denied that the reduction in area under plantation drives would have any effect on the state's green cover, even though the last two survey reports over a period of four years by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) has assessed the cover at what seems to be a static 56 per cent. It is interesting to note that the state forest ministry is facing a crisis owing to a shortage of degraded forest land for compensatory afforestation. It is feared that the state could lose huge sums in central funding for compensatory afforestation in lieu of forest lands diverted for non-forestry purposes.