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The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) on Monday approved proposals to divert over 4,300 hectares of forest land — mostly for mining purposes. With this the total area of forest land approved for diversion in 2016 is 10,000 hectare.
Till August, the FAC had recommended diversion of 4,108 hectare; in November it considered proposals to divert 7,419 hectare; while in the latest meeting it approved diversion of 4,377 hectare. The actual diversion of forests, however, is a much larger figure, as these are the projects involving more than 40 hectare of land.
Environmentalists, however, are contesting not just the diversion of forests, but also the cat and mouse game involved in doing so. They also point towards lack of transparency in functioning of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
The government, according to the non-governmental organisation EIA Resource and Response Centre (ERC), which monitors and assesses environmental impact assessment processes, the agenda for FAC meetings, which were earlier announced more than a week in advance, are now announced closer to the dates, making it difficult for environmentalists to review the proposals and present the issues, if any.
Pushp Jain, Director of ERC, said, “The FAC is trying to be mischievous. Previously they used to put up the agenda 10-15 days before the meetings. Now they put up the agenda on the public platform 3-4 days before the meetings. Further, some major projects are added to the agenda at the last minute without intimation. For example, in November the Ken-Betwa project was added to the agenda at the last minute.”
The agendas, when published, also lack information such as document links for the proposals, Jain said.
“There were several problems with this agenda (published on December 19). There were 25 proposals but documents links were given for four proposals only. The title of proposals were incomplete (no mention whether it is a renewal of lease or stage I /II clearance already granted or a new proposal),” ERC said in a statement.
In its meeting on Monday, 90 per cent of the forest land diversion has been recommended for mining sector, while about eight per cent has been approved for wind power sector. Of the mining projects, the FAC has recommended diversion of 75 hectare forest land for the Mahan-II open cast coal mine in Chhattisgarh.
“The question is why is this forest being diverted at all. The government’s own report says there is no need for further coal capacity addition,” Jain added.
Environmentalists have also been contesting the Mahan-II mine, which, they say is located in a biodiversity rich area home to several protected species, such as leopards, sloth bears and elephants.
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