STANDING COMMITTEE OF NATIONAL BOARD FOR WILDLIFE TWENTY SECOND MEETING 25 th APRIL 2011 AGENDA NOTES GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS INDEX SL. NO AGENDA ITEM PAGE NO. 1. Agenda Item No.1: Confirmation of the Minutes of meeting of the Standing 3 Committee of National Board for Wildlife held on 24th January 2011. 2. Agenda Item No.2: Action taken report on the recommendations of 21 st 4 Meeting of the Standing Committee of National Board for Wildlife held on 24 th January 2011 3 Agenda Item No. 3: 3.1 Report of the Expert Committee on Conservation of Kolleru Lake Sanctuary 3.2 Delegation of the powers of the State Board for Wildlife to the Chairman in case of Strategic Border Roads 3.3 Agenda item proposed by Shri. Biswajit Mohanty, Member, NBWL 4 Agenda Item No. 4: 4.1 Proposals for diversion of PAs 4.2 Proposals for taking up activities within 10 Kms from the boundaries of Protected Areas 5 Agenda Item No.5. Any other item with the permission of the Chair ********************* AGENDA NOTES FOR THE TWENTY SECOND MEETING OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE OF NATIONAL BOARD FOR WILD LIFE Date: 25 th April 2011 Venue: Paryavaran Bhawan, New Delhi. AGENDA ITEM NO.1 Confirmation of the minutes of the 21 st Meeting of Standing Committee of National Board for Wildlife held on 24 th January 2011 . The minutes of the 21 st Meeting of Standing Committee of NBWL, held on 24.01.2011 were circulated to the members on 07.02.2011. Comments have been received from Dr T.R. Shankar Raman, Dr A.J.T. Johnsingh and Ms. Prerna Bindra. The comments/suggestions made by the members are reproduced below: Comments received from Dr T.R. Shankar Raman: 2(3.1)(a): Framing ecologically sound policy for dealing with linear intrusions (page 2) The minutes at present do not indicate that a detailed background paper was presented at the meeting on linear intrusions. It also does not indicate some key suggestions made at the end of the presentation on the next steps forward. You also have a copy of this presentation with you already. I therefore request you to kindly add the following wording to the minutes to record these details: "Dr Shankar Raman placed a detailed background paper on the subject for the consideration of the committee. He suggested that the policy on linear intrusions be drafted taking into consideration the scientific findings on the effects of linear intrusions on wildlife habitats. It was proposed that the scheme for linear intrusions policy should consider options for (1) prevention, (2) realignment, (3) ecological restoration, and (4) mitigation, in order of priority. He suggested that prevention and realignment should always be considered for linear intrusions in protected areas and critical habitats, ecological restoration should be considered for many defunct and disused roads and intrusions, and mitigation for existing linear intrusions in wildlife areas and for cases of linear intrusions that are unavoidable or where realignments have been considered and rejected." Agenda item 3.3 (page 8): It is currently stated that: "The Committee, after discussion, decided that permission for black topping/cementing inside National Parks and Sanctuaries should be considered on a case to case basis and threadbare analysis of the essentiality and merits of the case." As I recall, it was discussed on this (and on other matters) that the policy banning black-topping along roads should continue and the cement/concrete roads will be treated on par with black-topping as regards the ban. This was also discussed clearly in the case of a road where cementing was proposed by a member but unequivocally rejected by the Chairman. It was mentioned that there may be some (exceptional) cases where one may need to consider such proposals. I therefore suggest an alternate wording for this item as follows for the final minutes: "The Committee, after discussion, decided that the present prohibition of black topping of roads inside National Parks and Sanctuaries shall continue, and shall apply also to cementing and concrete roads. Proposals for such roads may be, in exceptional cases, brought to the Standing Committee for a threadbare analysis of the essentiality and merits of the case." Comments received from Dr A.J.T. Johnsingh: “My suggestion about Ipomoea cornea is not confined only to the protected areas but the entire Indian freshwater landscape. The District collectors should be persuaded to fight against this weed which is a huge problem in our fresh water landscapes. The ways of doing this could be discussed in the next meeting .” Comments received from Ms. Prerna Bindra: 4.1(13) Diversion of 3.9892 ha of forest land in Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary for widening of existing 2 lane of NH-24 to 4 lane road from KM 86.00 to KM 93 in Ghaziabad District, Uttar Pradesh. It was pointed out by Ms Prerna Bindra that the area of Hastinapur sanctuary is 2079 sq km, and has huge human habitation-there are villages, highways etc, so huge tracts are much too degraded to be of value vis-à-vis wildlife. There are still pockets which are of immense biodiversity value, with swamp deer, leopard, jungle cat, sarus cranes, Gangetic dolphins. It will be prudent to have a site visit to understand which part of the sanctuary this—and other proposals pertaining to Hastinapur sanctuary is being impacted by the above-and other proposals, on the basis of which a decision can be made. It was assured that the area in question was not of value to wildlife, but to be on the side of caution it was agreed by the chairman that a site inspection be made and after ascertaining the facts, due permission may be given subject to the following. 4.2(3) Permission for setting up of Jaypee Super Cement Plant for 2.01 MTPA clinker production and 2.50 MTPA cement production located 2.1 kms from the Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh. The Member-Secretary briefed the Committee regarding the proposal. Prerna Singh Bindra raised the following objections: At 2.1 km, this is very close to the Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary which is part of the Vindhya range. The Vindhya-also called the Kaimur range—is the watershed of two major rivers, Son and Tons that flow into peninsular India. The sanctuary has very rich biodiversity which includes wolves, leopard, blackbuck, lesser cats, white-backed vulture, and is the breeding site of long-billed vultures. Kaimur sanctuary has prehistoric caves dating back to 4,000 years which depict elements of nature, ie, stars, moon, river and animals which interestingly includes rhinos. The cement plant will also be fed by mining which will devastate the ecology of the sanctuary. The map depicts the proximity of the cement plant to Son river which borders the sanctuary. The MoEF’s guidelines for Eco-Sensitive Zone themselves recommend that there be no mining in the ESAs—and at 2 km the cement plant would very much be within the impact zone. There is already tremendous pressure on the Vindhya range with stone crushing and limestone industry—leases have been given, and large scale illegal mining and stone crushing is reported. The sanctuary represents perhaps the last protected tact in this mountain range. The Standing Committee of NBWL may take a view on the above comments/suggestions while confirming the minutes of meeting held on 24.01.2011. AGENDA ITEM NO.2 The Action Taken Report on the decisions of the Standing Committee of NBWL taken in its 21 st meeting held on 24.01.2011 is appended below: Agenda Item No. Action Taken 2[4.2(4)]: Diversion of 7.2871 ha of The site inspection report of Dr Divyabhanusinh forest land for construction of Chavda with respect to the proposal for diversion of Ropeway from Bhavnath Taleti to 7.2871 ha of forest land for construction of ropeway Ambaji Temple in Girnar Wildlife from Bhavnath Taleti to Ambaji Temple in Girnar Sanctuary by Usha Breco Ltd, Wildlife Sanctuary by Usha Breco Ltd, Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Gujarat was considered by the Standing Committee of NBWL in its 21 st meeting held on 24 th January 2011, wherein the Chairman desired that he and Dr Nita Shah would visit the proposed project area and thereafter take a decision. A press note released by the office of Hon’ble Chairman in this regard is attached as ANNEXURE-1. (Page to ) 2[4(B)(12)]Proposal for denotification The proposal for denotification of 14.12 ha area (10.98 of forest area of Radhanagri ha submerged area and 3.14 ha dam construction) of Sanctuary for Savarde minor Radhanagri Sanctuary for Savarde minor irrigation irrigation project. project, was considered by the Standing Committee of NBWL in its 20 th meeting held on 13 th October 2010, wherein the Chairman had requested the Chief Wildlife Warden, Maharashtra to examine the recommendations made by Dr Asad Rahmani in his site inspection report. During the 21 st meeting of the Standing Committee of NBWL held on 24 th January 2011, the Chief Wildlife Warden, Maharashtra had clarified that consent of State Government was yet to be issued. In view of this, the Committee had requested the Chief Wildlife Warden to convey formal acceptance of conditions by the Government of Maharashtra to MoEF and a final view would be taken thereafter. Response from the Chief Wildlife Warden, Maharashtra is awaited. 2[4(2)] Proposal seeking permission The proposal seeking permission for construction of for construction of fencing and patrol fencing and patrol road along the Indo-Bangladesh road along the Indo-Bangladesh Border in Dampa Tiger Reserve, Mizoram was Border in Dampa Tiger Reserve, considered during the meeting of Standing Committee Mizoram.