AGENDA FOR THE MEETING OF FOREST ADVISORY COMMITTEE SCHEDULED TO BE HELD ON 16th November, 2017
Sandeep Sharma, AIGF (FC)
S. Area Page File No. Name of the proposal State Category No. (ha.) No. Proposal for diversion of 44.038 ha of forest land including 9.286 ha forest land in Safety Zone within total ML area of 58.704 ha in 1. 8-58/2017-FC Bainibasa Graphite Mining lease of M/s Odisha 44.038 Mining 3 Pradhan Industries located in Bainibasa village under Muniguda Tahasil of Rayagada district, Odisha for graphite mining. Diversion of 146.31 ha of forest land for construction of Rihand Super Thermal Power 8-412/1989- Uttar 2. Project Stage-III (2x500 MW) Ash Dam and 146.31 Thermal 11 FC Pradesh Ash Pipe line in favour of NTPC in the Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh. Proposal for according permission for use of 4.62 ha. of forest land within total Mining lease area of 192.81 ha. in Roida-C Iron and Manganese Mining lease located entirely inside Sidhamath RF of Keonjhar Forest 3. 8-49/2017-FC Division in Keonjhar district for undertaking Odisha 192.81 Prospecting 29 exploratory drilling of 83 no. of boreholes of 4” dia (83 boreholes @ 0.02 ha each totalling 1.66ha and 2.96ha. for construction of road) by M/s Odisha Mining Corporation Ltd. for prospecting of minerals. Diversion of 1,038.187 hectares of Revenue and DLC forest land including 4.051 hectares under safety zone within the lease hold area of 1,914.063 hectares allocated for opencast coal project (OCP) by M/s. MNH Shakti Ltd. (Talabira II and III OCP) in Jharsuguda and Sambalpur Forest Division within the 4. 8-82/2014-FC jurisdiction of Jharsuguda district and Odisha 1038.187 Mining 36 Sambalpur district of Odisha- Subsequent re- allotment of Talabira II and III OCP coal blocks in favour of M/s. Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) India Limited following cancellation of allotment the said coal blocks to the prior allottee i.e. M/s. MNH Shakti Ltd.as per Hon’ble Supreme Court’s order Diversion of balance forest land 401.7824 ha. including 7.2807 ha of safety zone out of total forest land of 519.7472 ha within total Mining Lease area of 618.576 ha for Iron Ore Mining 5. 8-27/2016-FC Odisha 401.7824 Mining 49 in Gandhamardan (Block-A) Mining lease in Keonjhar District, Odisha of M/s Odisha Mining Corporation Ltd. during 2nd Renewal of Mining lease period (likely to extended up
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to 31.03.2020 as per Amended provision of MMDR Act, 2015
Proposal for according permission for use of 8.2276 ha of forest land within total Mining lease block area of 256.304 ha for Manganese Mining lease located in villages Dhanurjoyapur, Kanarda, Laserda and Karo RF within the jurisdiction of Keonjhar Forest Division under Barbil, Tahasil of Keonjhar 6. 8-62/2017-FC Odisha 8.2276 Prospecting 60 district, Odisha for undertaking exploratory drilling of 250 no. of boreholes of 4” dia (250 boreholes @ 0.02 ha each totaling 5.0 ha 2 no. of trail pits @0.025 ha totaling 0.05 ha and 3.1776 ha for construction of road/path) for prospecting of minerals by the preferred bidder M/s Triveni Earth Movers Private Ltd. Discussion of Guidelines for stipulating the 7. 5-3/2007-FC norms for Survey and Investigation (Prospecting Policy Matter 5-3/2007-FC 68 of ores) on forest land.
Naresh Kumar, DIGF (FC)
S. Area Page File No. Name of the proposal State Category No. (ha.) No. Request for Exemption of NPV as per order dated 05.10.2015 passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in I. A NO. 2666/2009 in W. P 1. 7-79/2017-FC Policy Matter 73 (C) No. 2002/1995 titled T. N. Godavarman Thirumalpad vs. Union of India and Others- reg. Request for Exemption of NPV as per order dated 05.10.2015 passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in I. A NO. 2863-64/2010 in W. 2. 7-78/2017-FC Policy Matter 75 P (C) No. 2002/1995 titled T. N. Godavarman Thirumalpad vs. Union of India and Others- reg. Request for Exemption of NPV as per order dated 05.10.2015 passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in I. A NO. 2388/2008 in W. P 3. 7-80/2017-FC Policy Matter 77 (C) No. 2002/1995 titled T. N. Godavarman Thirumalpad vs. Union of India and Others- reg.
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Sandeep Sharma, AIGF (FC) Agenda No. 1 File No. 8-58/2017-FC Sub.: Proposal for diversion of 44.038 ha of forest land including 9.286 ha of forest land in Safety Zone within total ML area of 58.704 Ha in Bainibasa Graphite Mining lease of M/s Pradhan Industries located in Bainibasa village under Muniguda Tahasil of Rayagada district, Odisha for graphite Mining. S.N.1® Page 1-393/corr.
1. The State Government of Odisha vide their letter No. letter No. 10F (Cons)289/2016/22319/F & E dated 31.10.2017 submitted the above mentioned proposal seeking prior approval of the Central Government under Sectin-2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. 2. The facts related to the proposal as contained in the State Government’s letter dated 31.10.2017 are given below in the form of fact sheet:
FACT SHEET 1. Name of the Proposal Diversion of 44.038 ha of forest land including 9.286 ha of forest land in Safety Zone within total ML area of 58.704 Ha in Bainibasa Graphite Mining lease of M/s Pradhan Industries located in Bainibasa village under Muniguda Tahasil of Rayagada district, Odisha for graphite Mining. 2. Location (i) State Odisha (ii) District Rayagada 3. Particulars of Forests: (i) Name of Forest Division Rayagada Forest Division and Forest area involved. 44.038 ha. (including 9.286 ha in safety zone)
(ii) Legal status/Sy.No. Revenue Forest Land (Bada Jungle & Patra Jungle)
4. Topography of the area - 5. (i) Geology - (ii) Vulnerability to erosion The ML area represents a mild sloping topography as well as plain land bisected by the seasonal nallas flowing along West-East. General slop of the area is due East. Sakat nalla is flowing on the South to North –East direction. The slop is less than 10o and not volunerable to soil erosion. 6. (i) Vegetation Sal, Bandhan, Sahaj, Jamu, Kasi, Aamba, Ankula Koli, Bara, Bahada, Chara, Dhaura, Harida, Cashew, Kanchan, Karada, Kendu, Kurei, Mahula, Moi, Palasa, Pipal, Bana Tentuli, Tentuli, Bela, Kusuma, Neem, Pani Sahaj, Pijuli, Sahada, Satkaradia, Simili, Senha etc. (Pg-50-51/c)
(ii) Density 0.02
(iii) No. of trees enumerated/to 272 trees be actually felled (218 nos. of trees on proposed diverted forest land and 54 nos. of trees on safety zone). 7. Whether forms part of National The proposed area does not form part of National Park, Park, Wildlife Sanctuary, Wildlife Sanctuary, Biosphere Reserve or Tiger Reserve, Biosphere Reserve, Tiger Elephant corridor. It is also not coming within Eco Reserve, Elephant Corridor, etc. Sensitive zone of any National park/Wildlife Sanctuary. (if so, details of the area and
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comments of the Chief Wildlife Warden 8. Whether any RET species of No flora and fauna are found in the area. If so details thereof 9. Approximate distance of the The proposed site for diversion is adjoining to proposed site for diversion from Jamarguda R.F. and at 0.2 k.m. away. boundary of forest. 10. Whether any protected No archaeological/ heritage site/defence establishment or any other important monuments is located in the area. 11. Whether any work of in violation No of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 has been carried out (Yes/No). If yes details of the same including period of work done, action taken on erring officials. Whether work in violation is still in progress. 12. Whether the requirement of Yes forest land as proposed by the The lease deed has also been executed by the Government user agency in col. 2 of Part-I is (Collector, Rayagada) on 11.01.2017. unavoidable and barest minimum for the project, if no recommended area item-wise with details of alternatives examined. 13. Whether clearance under the Yes, Environment (protection) Act, Copy of EC is not given. 1986 is required? 14. Compensatory Afforestation (i) Details of non-forest Govt. non-forest land measuring 34.76 ha has been area/degraded forest area identified at village Sana Bhdahada and Sikabandha identified for CA, its under Bissamcuttack Tahasil of Rayagada district. It is in distance from adjoining one compact patch and about 300 meters from the nearby forest, number of patches, Ghagurhi pahar PRF. sixe of each patches. (ii) Map showing non- ---- forest/degraded forest area identified for CA and adjoining forest boundaries. (iii) Detailed CA scheme (Pg-341-355/c) including species to be planted, implementing agency, time schedule, cost structure, etc. (iv) Total financial outlay for Rs. 91,78,600.00 (Pg-356/c) CA (v) Certificate from the DFO, Keonjhar Rayagada has given Land Suitability competent authority Certificates (Pg-30/c). regarding suitability of the area identified for CA and
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from management point of view. 15. Catchment Area Treatment NA 16. Site Inspection Report by DFO Site inspection by DFO, Rayagada Division (Pg-56/c). 17. Total period for which the forest 50 years is proposed to be diverted (In years) 18. Rehabilitation of Oustees a) No of families involved Nil b) Category of families NA c) Details of rehabilitation NA plan 19. Employment likely to be generated i. Whether the project is likely Yes to generate employment ii. Permanent/Regular Employment (Number of 58 Person) iii. Temporary Employment (Number of person-days) 12000 20. Compliance of Scheduled Tribe Compliance of Scheduled Tribe and Other Traditional and Other Traditional Forest Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 Dwellers (Recognition of Forest has been submitted by the State Government for the entire Rights) Act, 2006 forest area of 44.038 ha. (Pg 289-334/c). 21. Cost Benefit Ratio Cost benefit ratio of the project is 1:45.71 (Pg-131/c) 22. Total Cost of the Project Rs 797.858 (Rupees in lacs) (Pg-31/c) 23. Recommendation i. DFO Recommended (Pg-55/c) ii. RCCF Recommended (Pg-58/c) iii. PCCF/Nodal Officer Recommended (Pg-61/c) iv State Government Recommended (Pg-62/c) 24. District Profile (i) Total Geographical area of 7073.00 sq. km. the district (ii) Total Forest area/ Divisional 3,19,691.01 sq. km. Forest area (iii) Total area diverted 1837.031 ha (15 Nos. cases) since 1980 (iv) Total CA stipulated since 1980 (Forest land) a. Forest land including 25.00 ha & 2250 nos. plants penal CA 1823.471 ha b. Non Forest Land (v) Progress of Compensatory Afforestation a. Forest land b. Non Forest land
The State Government of Odisha in their letter dated 31.10.2017 informed this Ministry as below:
1. Brief Description: An application was filed on 8.5.1992 by M/s Pradhan Industries for graphite mining over an area of 101.50 ha in village Bainibasa in the district of Rayagada. However, the Director of Mines,
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Odisha vide his letter No. 12099 dt 30.4.1996 had recommended for grant of mining lease over 58.704 ha. Accordingly, terms and conditions were issued by Steel & Mines Department vide their letter No. 6325 dt. 21.6.2005 and the same terms and conditions were accepted by the ML applicant vide its letter dtd. 22.6.2005. While the ML application was pending for disposal by the State Government MMDR (Amendment) Act, 2015 was enforced, w.e.f. 12.1.2015 and subsequently the Minerals (Other than Atomic and Hydro Carbons Energy Minerals) Concession rules, 2016 (MC Rules 2016) have also been notified by Central Government. As per provision of Section 10A(2)(C) of MMDR (Amendment) Act, 2015 and Rules 8 of the MC Rules, 2016, the ML application of Bainibasa Graphite Mines over 58.704 ha was eligible for grant of mining lease subject to forest clearance under Section 2(iii) of FC Act, 1980 and such mining lease was required to be granted / executed on or before 11.1.2017. On the application of the firm, the MoEF & CC, GoI vide their letter F. No. 8-60/2016-FC dt. 6.1.2017 accorded permission under Section 2(iii) of FC Act, 1980 pertaining to 44.038 ha of Forest kisam land in the ML area applied for subject to fulfillment of conditions stipulated therein. The firm in the meanwhile deposited NPV for the entire applied forest area amounting to Rs. 2,75,67,788/-. As regards FRA Compliance to be made as per MoEF & CC’s order, the Ministry of Mines, GoI vide their letter dt. 5.12.2017, had circulated the clarification to MoTA, GoI for non-insistence of the same at the time of execution of lease deed. This condition was however to mentioned in the lease deed to be executed. Accordingly, the Government of Odisha in Department of Steel & Mines granted Mining Lease vide their proceedings No. II (GR) SM- 01/2017/379/SM dated 10.01.2017 in respect of Bainibasa Graphite Mine over 58.704 ha in village Bainibasa for a period of 50 years in favour of M/s Pradhan Industries. The Mining Lease deed has been executed on dated 11.01.2017. FRA Compliance pertaining to entire forest land in this Mining lease has also been furnished by the Collector, Rayagada in the meantime. The Bainibasa Graphite mining lease is located in village Bainibasa under Muniguda Tahasil of Rayagada district, Odisha coming under the jurisdiction of Muniguda Forest Range of Rayagada Forest Division and is delineated within latitude of 19038’ 08.761” N to 19038’ 47.059”N and longitude of 83029’38.198”E to 83030’14.78”E. The ML area is delineated in Survey of India Topo Sheet No. E44F6 (65M/6) and E44F10(65M/10) in 1:50,000 scale. The executed mining lease over 58.704 ha involves 44.038 ha of Revenue forest Land and 14.666 ha of Non- Forest Land. Out of 14.666 ha of non-forest land 0.081 ha is Govt. land and 14.585 ha is private land. The land schedule of total ML area duly authenticated by the Tahasildar, Muniguda and status of land of the ML area as on 25.10.1980 are enclosed at (Page 115/c). The instant diversion proposal is for seeking prior approval of Central Govt. for diversion of 44.038 ha of forest land under Section – 2(ii) of FC Act, 1980 for its non-forest use.
As mentioned in Part–A of application, Bainibasa mining lease area for graphite ore forms a part of Eastern Ghat Super Group of Archean rocks. The ML area represents a mild sloping topography as well as plain land bisected by the seasonal nalas flowing along west – east. General slope of the area is due east. The highest and lowest altitudes are at 361 m RL and 334 m RL respectively. There is no perennial nala in the applied ML area. The natural drainage system is distinct and dendritic in nature. Seasonal nala starts from the western side and passes through the ML area along West–East direction. A perennial nala namely “Sakata Nala” starting from Nimagiri hill range flows outside the applied ML area along the Southern boundary from west to east and joins with River Banshadhara in the east. The confluence point of Sakata nala and River Banshadhara is at a linear distance of 4 km due east.
The Deputy Director of Mines, Koraput in his certificate dt. 21.11.2016 (Page 126/c) has indicated that specified ore cannot be mined out completely without diversion of forest land. The Mining Plan with progressive Mines Closure Plan over an area of 58.704 ha has been approved by Indian Bureau of Mines vide its letter No. MP/OTFM/20-ORI/BHU/2016/17/7097 dt.17.11.2016. The Mining Lease contains total mineable reserve of 134736 tonnes of Graphite ore. The copy of approved Mining Plan with Progressive Mines Closures Plan duly approved by IBM is at Page 104-195/DP. The life of the mine as on date is estimated to be 11 years considering production of 13272 Tonnes per year.
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2. Forest Land: The ML area over 58.704 ha involves 44.038 ha of Revenue Forest land, 0.081 ha of govt. non – forest land and 14.585 ha of private non-forest land. Out of 44.038 ha of forest land, 43.257 ha is of kissam ‘Patra Jungle’ and 0.781 ha is of kissam ‘Bada Jungle’. It has been indicated by PCCF, Odisha that out of 14.585 ha of private non-forest land 2.167 ha is included in the safety zone where as the balance 12.418 ha of private land shall not be utilized in any manner for the purpose of mining and related ancillary activities and shall remain untouched. The requisite certificate of the Tahasildar. Muniguda on status of the both forest and non-forest land involved in this mining lease as on 25.10.1980, is enclosed (Page 116/c). The purpose wise break up of total land is indicated below: Component wise breakup of total land Forest Non – Sl. Component Land Forest Land Total in Ha No. (Ha.) (Ha) 1 Area under Excavation 3.885 0 3.885 2 Storage of Top Soil 0.927 0 0.927 3 Overburden Dump 2.338. 0 2.338. 4 Mineral Storage 2.945 0 2.945 5 Infrastructure 2.000 0 2.000 6 Road 2.500 0 2.500 7 Tailing Pond 2.848 0 2.848 8 Effluent Treatment Plant 0.064 0 0.064 9 Mineral Separation Plant 2.136 0 2.136 (Beneficiation Plant) Others 0 a. Water storage / Reservoir 0.650 0 0.650 10 b. Rain Water harvesting Pond 0.900 0 0.900 c. Settling Pond (4 No) 0.950 0 0.950 11 Safety Zone 9.286 2.167 11.453 Sub Total 31.429 2.167 33.596 12 Area for future Exploration & 12.609 0.081 12.69 Utilization Sub Total 44.038 2.248 46.286 13 Private Plot (to remain untouched) 0 12.418 12.418 14 Total 44.038 14.666 58.704
3. Flora & fauna As reported by the DFO, Rayagada and the RCCF, Koraput Circle in their Site Inspection Reports, the vegetation of the applied forest area belongs to Tropical Dry Deciduous Mixed Forest type having density less than 0.1. The tree species as reported by DFO in his site inspection report includes Sal (Shorearobusta, Jamun (Szyzgiumeumin), Mango (Mangiferaindica), Bahada (Terminalia belerica), Chara (BuchananiaLanzan), harida (Terminalia Chebula), Kendu (Diospyros melanoxylon), Mahula (Madhucaindica), Tamarind (Tamarindusindica), Bel (Aegle marmelos), Kusum (Schleicheraoleosa), Neem (Azadirachtaindica), Simla (Boxbax ceiba) etc.
As reported, no such rare and endangered faunal species are found in this area. The common wild animals noticed are Fox, Mangoose, Rabbit, Chameleon, Monitor Lizard, Black Drango, Rat Snake etc. Occasional movement of elephant is also reportedly noticed this area. Nearby wildlife sanctuary to this project is at Kotgarh which is about 21.6 km away. Similarly nearest proposed elephant corridor (Kotgarh sanctuary – Lakhari valley) is about 23.8 km from the project site.
4. Tree enumeration
As reported by the DFO, Rayagada, 218 nos of trees about 30 cm girth have been enumerated in the applied forest land of 34.752 ha proposed for diversion excluding safety zone. The abstract of tree enumeration in the forest area of ML excluding the safety zone signed by the DFO, Rayagada is enclosed
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(Page 358-371/c). Further, 54 Nos of trees above 30 cm girth have been enumerated in 9.286 ha of forest land coming within safety zone area. The abstract of tree enumeration in safety zone duly signed by DFO, Rayagada is enclosed (Page 364/c). In all, 272 nos. of trees have been enumerated from the entire forest land of 44.038 ha involved in this proposal. Details of tree enumeration is enclosed (Page 256-371/c). As regards 12.69 ha of land including 12.609 ha of forest land being proposed to be kept for future exploration 86 no. of trees have been enumerated which are to be kept intact at project cost.
5. Wildlife Management As reported by the DFO, Rayagada and the RCCF, Koraput Circle in their site inspection reports, the area does not form a part of National Park or Wildlife Sanctuary, Biosphere Reserve, Tiger Reserve. It is also not coming within any Eco Sensitive Zone of any protected area. No such rare and endangered faunal species are found in this area. Occasional movement, of elephants have been reported. Besides wild faunas like Fox, Mangoose, Rabbit, Chameleon, Monitor lizard, Black Drango, Rat Snake etc are also available in the area. Therefore, a site-specific wildlife Conservation plan is required to be prepared as per guidelines of CWLW, Odisha for its approval by PCCF(WL)&CWLW, Odisha, which needs to be implemented at project cost inside the ML area as well as in the project impact area. Besides, proportionate cost of Regional Wildlife Management Plan as per revised rate on ML area basis is also to be deposited by the lessee its implementation.
6. Compensatory afforestation
Total forest land applied for diversion in the instant proposal is 44.038 ha including 9.286 ha of forest land in safety zone. No Compensatory Afforestation is required pertaining forest land coming under safety zone. Hence compensatory afforestation is required to be taken up over 34.752 ha. of non-forest land in respect of this mining project. Therefore 34.76 ha of Government non-forest land in Sanaburahara and Sikabandha Mouza under Tahasil Bissam-Cuttack in Rayagada district has been identified for raising Compensatory Afforestation in lieu of 34.752ha. of forest land required for mining activities in this project. The land schedule of identified non-forest land of Pahada Kissam duly countersigned by Tahasildar, Bissam- Cuttack is enclosed . The Tahasildar has reported that the non-forest land identified for CA is free from encroachment and encumbrance. The identified non-forest land is also not included in DLC report of the district. The joint verification report involving Revenue and Forest Department field functionaries duly signed by all concerned is enclosed (Page No. 338/c). A site specific Compensatory Afforestation scheme has been prepared by the DFO, Rayagada to raise block plantation 1600 seedlings per ha over 17.38 ha and bald hill plantation @ 1600 seedlings per ha over 17.38 ha at current wage rate of Rs.200/- per manday- including cost of maintenance for 10 years. The Compensatory Afforestation scheme has been technically approved by the Addl. PCCF (Forest Diversion and Nodal Officer, FC Act) with a total financial outlay of Rs.91,78,600 /- only. Indigenous species such as Neem, Simili, Sunari, Bamoo, Gamhar, Mango, Amla, Jamun etc. have been selected for plantation. The User Agency has furnished an undertaking to bear the cost of the Compensatory Afforestation as per prevailing wage rate at the time of plantation (Page No.26/c). The DGPS map of the non-forest land identified for Compensatory Afforestation is enclosed in the DP along with its shape file in CD form. The CA land has been delineated on Survey of India Toposheet No. 65M/10. The approved CA scheme along with financial outlay is enclosed.
7. Cost Benefit Analysis
Cost benefit analysis has been assessed as per MoEF&CC guidelines No. 7-69/2011-FC(Pt) clt. 1.8.2017. The total loss per annum due to loss of timber, fire wood & minor forest produce and environmental loss has been estimated at Rs.12.28 lakh whereas the total benefit to the economy due to this mining project per annum has been estimated at Rs.561.384 lakh. Hence, the cost benefit ratio comes to 1: 45.71.
8. Safety Zone
As mentioned in the Safety Zone map provided by User Agency, the safety zone involves 11.453 ha comprising of 9.286 ha of forest land and 2.167 ha of non-forest private land. Details of forest and Non-forest land coming within the safety zone in respect of the Proposal is indicated below.
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Forest Non-Forest Sl. Total Area Item land land No. (in Ha) (in ha) (in Ha) 7.5 m wide all along the Mining 1 0.737 1.516 2.253 lease Boundary 50m width along nala course 2 (excluding safety zone along 8.549 0.651 9.200 ML boundary) Total Area in Ha. 9.286 2.167 11.453
The lessee is therefore required to maintain the safety zone at its own cost. Besides, the lessee is also required to bear the cost of afforestation over 1.5 times of the forest area in the safety zone in the degraded forest land to be identified by State Government elsewhere.
9. Environmental Clearance
The lessee has applied for environmental clearance from Gol, MoEF&CC. Government of India, MoEF & CC vide their letter F.No.-IA-J-11015/16/2017-IA-II(M) dt. 10.3.2017 have accepted the proposal for issuing TOR. The project is therefore subject to Environmental clearance of MoEF&CC and CTE/CTO of SPCB, Odisha.
10. Resettlement & Rehabilitation Plan
The project does not involve displacement of any human habitation. Hence, Resettlement & Rehabilitation plan is not required.
11. Mining Plan and Progressive Mines Closure Plan
The Mining Plan including the Progressive Mine Closure Plan of Bainibasa Graphite Mine over an area of 58.704 ha of M/s Pradhan Industries has been approved vide letter no. MP/OTFM/20-ORI/BHU/2016-17/7097 dated 17.11.2016 of Gol, Ministry of Mines, Indian Bureau of Mines, Regional Controller of Mines. Copy of the approval letter is enclosed (Page-141-142/c).The copy of the approved Mining Plan and Progressive Mine Closure Plan is enclosed. As indicated in the approved Mining Plan, Mining Lease area contains total mineable reserve of 134736 tonnes of Graphite ore. The life of the mine as on date is estimated to be 11 years considering production of 13272Tonnes per year.
12. Phased Reclamation Plan
The lessee has to carry out reclamation of the ML area as per the provision of the approved reclamation plan. Therefore the lessee has to submit Phased reclamation Plan (as per provision of pare 5.2(i)(a) of FC Act guidelines) for its implementation al project cost.
13. Lease Profile:
The lease profile as given by the user agency is placed in filea at (Page-340/c.
14. Violation
No violation has been reported by both the DR), Rayagada Forest Division and the RCCF, Koraput Circle in their Site Inspection Reports.
15. Compliance of MoEF&CC guidelines dt. 3.8.2009/5.7.2013 on processing of the Forest diversion proposal as per provisions of the ST & Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. The Collector, Rayagada has furnished certificate as per prescribed format Over 44.038 ha. of forest land proposed for diversion in this project (page 289/c). The proceedings of Forest Rights Committee of Bhairabgada
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GP held on 19.12.2016 (Page 290/c) and its English version at page 295/c, Proceedings of Gram Sabha of Bainabasa held on 20.12.2016 in Odia language (Page 299/c) and its English version at page 309/c, Proceedings of SDLC, Gunupur held on 11.7.2017 (page 316/c) and Proceedings of DLC, Rayagada held on 20.7.2017 (page 325/c) pertaining to this project area also furnished. This complies with the FRA guidelines of MoEF&CC pertaining to forest land proposed for diversion in this project.
16. Others
In compliance to MoEF&CC's order dt: 6.1.2017 according permission under Section 2(iii) of FC Act, 1980, the lessee has already deposited the Net Present Value (NPV) for entire forest land of 44.308 ha involved in this mining lease amounting to Rs. 2,75,67,788/- through web portal vide RTGS No. UTR No BKIDH 17010512274 dated 10.01.2017. Further the User Agency has furnished an undertaking to pay the additional NPV if so decided at a later date as per the decision-of the Supreme Court. The said undertaking is enclosed (Page-27/c). The Site Inspection of the DFO, Rayagada Forest Division is enclosed at Page- 56/c Site Inspection of the Regional Chief Conservator of Forests, Koraput Circle is enclosed at Page- 59/c. The basic information of Rayagada Forest Division, District Profile of Rayagada District and 'State Profile have been furnished.
The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Odisha has recommended the proposal.
All parts of the statutory proforma have been duly filled in and all relevant maps and undertakings have been enclosed.
17. State Government of Odisha further requested to examine the proposal and approved subject to the following stipulation:
A) 9.286ha. of forest land is to be maintained as safety zone and in no circumstances, it shall be used for mining and other allied activities.
B) The user agency shall undertake demarcation of the lease area on the ground posting four feet high cement concrete pillars embedded two feet inside the soil with serial number, forward and backward bearings, and distance from pillar to pillar. The user agency shall also submit the map of lease area showing different kinds of forest land using DGPS survey datas and latitude and longitude of each pillar to the Divisional Forest Officer, Rayagada for his reference before commencement of work on final forest clearance.
C) The user agency shall also furnish the valid EC of GoI, MoEF&CC and CTE/CTO of SPCB, Odisha for undertaking mining operation.
D) 86 no. of trees enumerated over the 12.69ha. of forest land being kept for future exploration are to be kept intact at project cost.
E) A site specific wildlife Conservation plan is required to be prepared as per guidelines of CWLW, Odisha for its approval by PCCF(WL)&CWLW, Odisha, which needs to be implemented at project cost inside the ML area as well as. in the project impact area. Besides, proportionate cost of Regional Wildlife Management Plan as per revised rate on ML area basis is also to be deposited by the lessee its implementation.
F) There shall be no breaking of 12.418ha. of private land in the ML area as indicated in the proposed land use plan.
G) The lessee has to submit Phased reclamation Plan(as per provision of para 5.2(i)(a) of FC Act guidelines) for its implementation at project cost.
The facts related to the above proposal may be placed before FAC in its meeting to be held on 16.11.2017 for their examination and appropriate recommendation. ****
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Agenda No. 2 F. No. 8-412/1989-FC (Pt.) Sub: Diversion of 146.31 ha of forest land for construction of Rihand Super Thermal Power Project Stage-III (2x500 MW) Ash Dam and Ash Pipe line in favour of in favour of NTPC in the Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh.
The above mentioned proposal was placed before FAC at last in its meeting held on 16.05.2017 and the FAC, after examination of the proposal and discussion with user agency, observed as below: 1. Proposal along with the Site inspection report was considered by the FAC in its meeting held on 12th to 13th September, 2013 and the Committee, after discussion on the proposal, recommended that current proposal for diversion of 146.31 ha of forest land shall be considered for diversion by the Central Government after compliances on the stipulations, as given below, is completed by the State Government/user agency. As this proposal is an off shoot of the earlier proposal and without obtaining compliance on the first proposal and subsequent grant of stage II, new proposal cannot be considered: (i) The State Government shall submit the justification for forwarding the current proposal without ensuring the compliance of the stage –I approval for the diversion of 744 ha of forest land granted vide MOEF letter dated 23.08.1991. (ii) The State Government, should seek amendments in the Stage-I approval dated 23.08.1991 on account of reduction in the forest area from 744 ha to 280.508 ha, along with detailed justification and the reasons for not seeking the amendment of in principle approval till date. (iii) The user agency shall submit the detailed justification for commencing the work of the project without obtaining the final approval under F(C) Act 1980. 2. The above recommendation of the FAC were communicated to the State Government vide this Ministry’s letter of even number dated 8.10.2013. The State Government of Uttar Pradesh vide their letter dated 13.03.2014 submitted the information as per the observation of the FAC. Summary of the same is given as under:
A. The user agency shall submit the justification forwarding the current proposal without ensuring the compliance of the stage –I approval for the diversion of 744 ha of forest land granted vide MOEF letter dated 23.08.1991 i. It is mentioned by the State Government and the project proponent that State Government after ensuring the compliance of Stage-I approval, forwarded the compliance report to CCF (Central), Regional Office (Central Region) of MOEF, Lucknow vide letter dated 06.06.2013 from CCF/ Nodal Officer, Uttar Pradesh. This letter was forwarded to MOEF, Delhi along with the Site Inspection Report of CCF (Central), Lucknow vide letter dated 12.08.2013. in this background the following has been mentioned by the project proponent:
a. In accordance with the orders of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India 463.492 ha of Section-4 forest land has been settled in favor of villagers (Para 8). Thus, the forest land involved is reduced to 280.508 ha (744 ha - 463.492 ha =280.508 ha) b. NTPC has made payments for compensatory Afforestation for double the area of forest land i.e. 561 ha (2 x 280.508 ha). c. The details of payments made by the user agency against NPV have also been given in Para 6 of the letter dated 31.05.2013. d. The Solicitor General of India has also opined that NTPC is liable to pay compensatory afforestation and NPV vis-a-vis 280.508 Ha of forest land.
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B. The State Government, should seek amendments in the Stage-I approval dated 23.08.1991 on account of reduction in the forest area from 744 ha to 280.508 ha, along with detailed justification and the reasons for not seeking the amendment of in principle approval till date.
a. Nodal Officer and Conservator of Forests, Lucknow vide letter dated 15.02.1996 addressed to AIG (Forest Conservation), MOEF, Delhi had requested for an amendment in Stage-I approval due to change in forest area from 744 ha to 280.508 ha. b. Further, CCF/ Nodal Officer, Lucknow vide letter dated 13.08.2010 addressed to AIG (Forest Conservation), MOEF, Delhi again requested for an amendment in Stage-I approval due to change in forest area from 744 ha to 280.508 ha. c. The then DFO, Renukoot giving the full details for changes in forest area as well as compliance of conditions was forwarded vide letter dated 13.08.2010 of CCF/ Nodal Officer, Lucknow to MOEF, Delhi vide letter dated 08.08.2010 . In addition to above, the project proponent has also submitted the detailed justification for above.
The construction of the project started on 09.02.1983. However, even before the start of construction, a writ petition was pending in the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India since 06.05.1982 and the legal status of Section-4 Forest Land (whether to be considered as forest land or non-forest private land) was sub-judice. As the land allotted to NTPC was also covered under writ Petition and the order of Hon'ble Supreme Court, NTPC got itself impleaded in the petition and requested for release of land in favour of NTPC. Hon'ble Supreme Court, realizing the importance of the project, passed several orders and appointed commissioners to facilitate the release of land in favor of NTPC. Accordingly, the part of Section-4 forest land occupied by the villagers was settled in four of villagers and later transferred to NTPC in accordance to the directives of Hon'ble Supreme Court.
C. The user agency shall submit the detailed justification for commencing the work of the project without obtaining the final approval under F(C) Act 1980.
In this regard the project proponent has mentioned following:
a. The land allotted to the project consisted of four types of land - Govt. Gram Sabha Land, Private Land, Section-20 Forest Land and Section-4 Forest Land. Realizing the importance of forest land as well as the regulations associated with it, NTPC did not utilize Section-20 Forest Land at all. The area of Section-20 Forest Land included in proposal for forest clearance was 188.047 Ha. However, till today, NTPC has not utilized any Section-20 Forest Land for the project and the same has also been verified during the site inspection held on 20.11.2012. b. In case of Section-4 Forest Land, the legal status was sub-judice and out of total 555.744 ha of Section- 4 Forest Land included in proposal for forest clearance, 463.564 ha was settled in favor of villagers and only 92.18 ha remained as Section-4 forest land. Out of 92.18 ha, NTPC has utilized 62.892 ha of Section-4 forest land till date. Remaining 29.288 ha is still in possession of Forest Department as verified during the site inspection held on 20.11.2012. It is also pertinent to mention here that this 62.892 ha of Section-4 forest land existed in small patches and hence could not be avoided by NTPC. c. Hon'ble Supreme Court vide order dated 08.02.1989 directed one of its commissioners to facilitate transfer of land to NTPC and observed that the lands which are subjected to the notification under Section-4 of the Forest Act would also come within the purview of the Section-2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and it would, therefore, be necessary for NTPC to obtain appropriate clearance under that Act from appropriate authority. Immediately after this order NTPC applied for forest clearance and Stage-I forest clearance was accorded by MOEF vide letter dated 23.08.1991. However, by this time construction of Stage-I of the project (2x500 MW) was already completed. A
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copy of letter dated 24.10.1989 from OSD (Forests), Government of UP to A1G, MOEF, Delhi regarding transfer of forest land through the Member, Board of Commissioners appointed by Honorable Supreme Court under the judgment dated 14.12.1988 is enclosed. d. It is submitted that provisions of Section 131 of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition & Land Reforms Act, 1950 was amended through the Gazette of Uttar Pradesh dated 15.4.1987 with effect from 30 June 1978. It is further submitted that by virtue of the provisions of Section 131-A of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition & Land Reforms Act, 1950, the Land notified under Section-4 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, which was settled in favour of villagers being in cultivatory possession of land vested in a Gaon Sabha under section 117 of the Act, 1950, or belonging to the State Government, in the portion of District Mirzapur, south of Kaimur Range, other than land notified under section 20 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, before the 30th day of June, 1978, shall be deemed to have become Bhumidhar over such land with effect from the 30th day of June, 1978. e. After completion of land settlement proceedings, the net forest area involved in Rihand STPP was established and NTPC has already deposited the payments towards Compensatory Afforestation and Net Present Value, as and when demanded by State Govt. and hence complied with the conditions of Stage-I clearance. 3. In view of the above justification, the project proponent has made following submissions: a. NTPC has carried out the construction activities on Section-4 land transferred to it by State Govt. through the Member, Board of Commissioners appointed by Hon’ble Supreme Court under the judgment dated 14.12.1988. b. NTPC has made its best efforts to minimize the utilization of forest land —188.047 Ha. of Section-20 Forest Land initially intended to be utilized has not been utilized at all, though the payments towards CA and NPV have been made for 188.047 Ha of Scetion-20 Forest Land. c. Out of 92.18 ha of Section-4 Forest Land, NTPC has utilized 62.892 ha only, though the payments towards CA and NPV have been made for entire 92.18 ha of Section-4 Forest Land. d. NTPC has already obtained Stage-I clearance and complied with the conditions of the Stage-I clearance. The delay in obtaining Stage-II forest clearance, has been due to the delay in settlement of cases related to Section-4 forest land occupied by villagers. e. In 1980s, there was acute shortage of power in the country. Rihand STPP was conceived as major project to be set up with the help from British Govt. A time bound implementation of the project was the essence of the time. f. It is therefore requested that the Stage-I clearance for Rihand STPP issued vide MOEF letter dated 23.08.1991 may kindly be amended for change in area (from 744 ha to 280.508 ha) and Stage-II clearance for 280.508 ha of forest land may kindly be issued. g. It is further requested that forest clearance for diversion of 146.31 Ha. of forest land for construction of Rihand Super Thermal Power Project, Stage-III (2x500 MW) Ash Dyke and Ash Pipeline may kindly be issued. Both the units under Stage-III have already been commissioned and the ash dyke is urgently required for the units to continue power generation.
4. Regional office, Lucknow of the MoEF has recommended that current proposal for Diversion of 146.31 ha of forest land for construction of Rihand Super Thermal Power Project Stage-III (2x500 MW) Ash Dam and Ash Pipe line in favour of NTPC in the Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh should be considered only after Settlement of diversion of 744 ha of forest land, pending for final approval under the FC Act, on which the thermal power station complex have been established.
5. Regional office, Lucknow of the MoEF&CC in its Site Inspection Report has intimated that construction work for phase –III is in progress within the area of 744 ha for which final approval is yet to be issued.
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6. From the clarification submitted by the State Government and after detailed deliberations following is concluded. a. This is the case of regularization of violation under FC Act as the project (stage I) was already completed by the time stage-I approval was granted in 1991 The user agency applied for central Government approval under FC Act,1980 on the direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court issued its order dated 8th Feb.1989 in which legal status of the land involved in the project was decided by the court. b. The project proponent failed to submit compliance of the stage I approval dated 23.08.1991 till 6/6/2013.The delay was stated to be due to the delay in settlement of cases related to Section-4 forest land occupied by villagers. c. Out of 744 ha of forest land (555.744 ha RF under section 4 and 188.047 RF under section 20 of the Indian Forest Act 1927) for which approval under F(c) Act was sought 62.892 ha of Forest land has been used by the user agency in violation of the Forest (conservation) Act,1980 since 1983, the date of commencement of the project. ( Out of 555.744ha of Section 4 land 463.564ha forest land was settled in favor of villagers vide Supreme Court’s order dated 08.02.1989. Out of remaining 92.18 ha Section 4 forest land 29.288 ha land is in possession of State Forest Department. Balance 188.047 ha of RF land under section 20 of the IFAs has not been utilized by the User Agency for the project.) d. Out 280.227 ha of forest land (92.18 ha of RF under Section 4 of IFA and 188.047 ha RF under Section 20 of IFA) only 62.892 ha has been actually utilized by the user agency for non-forestry purpose and the project for which forest land was requested is already completed. Therefore, there is no justification for diversion of 217.335 ha of forest land (29.288 ha of section-4 land already in possession of State Forest Department and 188.047 ha of RF land under section 20 which has not been utilized for the non-forestry purpose till the completion of the project. e. Since the NTPC is Central Government PSU they are entitled for Compensatory Afforestation over double the degraded forest land.
7. In view of the above, the FAC on 29th and 30th April 2014 recommended the following:
a. Stage I approval accorded by the MoEF may be amended to the extent that diversion of only 62.892ha of Forest Land which has actually been utilized for the project subject to the general, standard conditions and following additional conditions: i. State Government shall raise penal compensatory afforestation from funds to be realized from the user agency, over degraded forest land twice in extant to the forest land utilized for non-forest purpose without obtaining approval under the FC Act; (62.892ha). ii. State Government shall realize from the user agency penal NPV @ 20 % of the rates applicable on the date of grant of the amended Stage-I approval, of forest land utilized for non-forest purpose (62.892ha) without obtaining approval under the FC Act for each year or fraction thereof. (Explanation: In case a patch of forest land has been utilized for non-forest purpose without obtaining approval under the FC Act for 3 years, penal NPV to be realised in respect of such forest land will be at the rate of 60 % of the rates applicable on the date of grant of stage-I approval.); iii. State Government should initiate action against the user agency in accordance with the provisions of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 or relevant local Forest Act of the State Government for use of 62.893ha of forest land without prior approval of the State Government. iv. State Government should initiate an enquiry to find out whether state government officials prima facie failed to restrain the user agency to utilize the forest land during the period from 1983, year of commencement of the project to 08/02/1989, the day Honorable Supreme court ordered transfer of land to NTPC and subsequent period. And initiate proceedings against the official found guilty.
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b. The above recommendation of the committee will be placed before the competent authority only after examination of following information on receipt from the state Government. i. Re-confirmation from the State Government that 29.288 ha of forest land which is claimed to have been not utilized by the user agency is in possession of the Forest Department. ii. Status of the 188.047 ha of RF under section 20 of the IFA 1927 which is claimed to have not been utilized by the user agency. Whether the land is transferred to the user agency or is in possession of the Forest Department. iii. Location of 62.892 ha of forest land on SOI topo sheet and DGPS maps of the forest land. iv. Letter of the commissioner appointed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court restraining the concerned DFO from stopping the project activities as claimed by the user agency during presentation. v. Compliance of Scheduled Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 in accordance of the MoEF’s guidelines dated 03/08/2009 read with guidelines dated 5th July 2013 has to be submitted by the State Government. c. The current proposal of Diversion of 146.31 ha of forest land for construction of Rihand Super Thermal Power Project Stage-III (2x500 MW) Ash Dam and Ash Pipe line in favour of NTPC in the Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh will be considered by the FAC only after issue of amended stage- I approval, subsequent submission of compliance report and issue of stage II approval. In the meantime the state government may keep ready following information which will be required if the MoEF takes decision to consider this proposal after issue of stage II approval of the previous project i. Since item of works proposed are not site specific the user agency shall submit detailed justification for establishing the Ash dam and Ash Pipe line at the proposed location along with report on exploring at least three alternatives which should also highlight the availability/non-availability of Non-Forest land. ii. Compliance of Scheduled Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 in accordance of the MoEF’s guidelines dated 03/08/2009 read with guidelines dated 5th July 2013 has to be submitted by the State Government d. The state government may further be advised to i. Stop the construction work for phase –III which is in progress within the area of 744 ha for which final approval is yet to be issued. ii. State Government should inquire into the matter and initiate action against the user agency in accordance with the provisions of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 or relevant local Forest Act of the State Government for starting the construction work for phase –III without prior approval of the State Government.
8. Accordingly, State Government was requested vide MOEF and CC letter dated 27.05.2014 to comply with the above recommendation of the FAC and a report may be sent to this Ministry for further necessary action. In response to this letter, CCF & Nodal Officer (FCA), Govt. of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow vide his letter No. 2106/11-C-794 dated 31.03.2016 furnished their response for letter dated 27.05.2015 as detailed below:
S. No. Point raised in part ( a) of the Response of Nodal Officer (FCA) letter dated 27.05.2014 (i) Re-confirmation from the State In response to this point, it is to inform that Government that 29.288 ha of Government of India vide letter No. 8-412/89-FC forest land which is claimed to dtd. 23.08.1991 has accorded in-principle approval have not been utilized by the user for transfer of 744 ha of forest land to NTPC, out of agency is in possession of the which 29.288 ha forest land which is notified under Forest Department. Section-4 of Indian Forest Act, 1927 has not been utilized by NTPC and the forest land is in possession of Forest Department as in past.
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(ii) Status of the 188.047 ha of RF In response to this point, it is to inform that under section 20 of the IFA 1927 Government of India vide letter No. 8-412/89-FC which is claimed to have not dtd. 23.08.1991 has accorded in-principle clearance been utilized by the user agency. for transfer of 744 ha of forest land to NTPC, out of Whether the land is transferred to which 188.07 ha forest land which is notified under the user agency or is in Section-20 of Indian Forest Act, 1927 has not been possession of the Forest utilized by NTPC and the forest land is in possession Department. of Forest Department as in past. (iii) Location of 62.892 ha of forest In response to this point, it is to inform that land on SOI topo sheet and Government of India vide letter No. 8-412/89-FC DGPS maps of the forest land. dtd. 23.08.1991 has accorded in-principle clearance for transfer of 744 ha of forest land to NTPC, out of which 92.892 ha forest land which is notified under Section-4 of Indian Forest Act, 1927 is being utilized by NTPC. Area of 62.892 ha forest land marked on topo sheet and DGPS map of the proposed forest land are enclosed
(iv) Letter of the commissioner In response to this point, it is to inform that Shri Ram appointed by the Hon’ble Prakash Pandey, Commissioner was appointed in Supreme Court restraining the compliance to the order of Hon’ble Supreme Court concerned DFO from stopping dtd. 20.11.1986 under writ petition no. 1061/1982 of the project activities as claimed Banwasi Seva Ashram to make available Section-4 by the user agency during land occupied by farmers to NTPC. The Section-4 presentation. forest land occupied by farmers was verified by Shri Ram Prakash Pandey and the forest land was made available to NTPC. A copy of letter from the Commissioner appointed by Supreme Court in which DFO was prevented from stopping the work is enclosed. (v) Compliance of Scheduled Tribe FRA compliance was not submitted and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 in accordance of the MoEF’s guidelines dated 03/08/2009 read with guidelines dated 5th July 2013 has to be submitted by the State Government. i.
The Committee also desired that the State Government may keep ready following information in respect of current proposal i.e. 146 ha of forest land for construction of Ash Dam and Ash Pipe line: S. No. Point raised in part ( b) of Response of Nodal Officer (FCA) the letter dated 27.05.2014 i. Since item of works In response to this point, it is to be informed that proposed are not site NTPC proposed to construct ash dam and ash specific the user agency pipeline on 188.07 ha forest land which is notified shall submit detailed under Section-20 and included in 744 ha forest land.
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justification for establishing However, it was directed by Govt. of India letter no. the Ash dam and Ash Pipe J-13011/57/2008-IA-II(T) dtd. 05.02.2009 that the line at the proposed location construction of ash dyke be undertaken beyond 500 along with report on m of the FRL of Gobind Ballabh Pant Sagar (Rihand exploring at least three Reservoir). Due to this reason only, 146.31 ha forest alternatives which should land which is located beyond 500 m from GBPS and also highlight the has less tree density as compared to nearby area has availability/non-availability been identified for construction of ash dam and ash of Non-Forest land. pipeline.
ii. Compliance of Scheduled In this regard, a report given by Chief Conservator of Tribe and Other Traditional Forests, Mirjapur Circle is referred wherein it is Forest Dwellers mentioned that the Hon’ble Court has passed an order (Recognition of Forest which is under consideration of the Govt. However, Rights) Act, 2006 in FRA compliance is given. accordance of the MoEF’s guidelines dated 03/08/2009 read with guidelines dated 5th July 2013 has to be submitted by the State Government.
The FAC has further recommended that the State Government may be advised to: S. No. Point raised in part (c) of the Response of Nodal Officer (FCA) letter dated 27.05.2014 i Stop the construction work for In response to this point, it is to inform that in phase –III which is in progress compliance to the orders issued by Hon’ble within the area of 744 ha for Supreme Court under writ no. 1061/1982, Shri which final approval is yet to be Ram Prakash Pandey, Commissioner was issued appointed to make available Section-4 land occupied by the farmers to NTPC and the Section-4 land occupied by the farmers was made available to NTPC. The work of phase- III has been undertaken by NTPC on this land only. An order dtd. 16.09.1989 was issued by the office of the Board of Commissioners, Supreme Court of India preventing the stoppage of construction work, a copy of which had already been made available earlier. ii State Government should In response to this point, it is to inform that inquire into the matter and Government of India, Ministry of Environment initiate action against the user & Forest, Paryavaran Bhawan, CGO Complex, agency in accordance with the Lodi Road, New Delhi-110 003 vide letter no. provisions of the Indian Forest 8-412/89-FC dated 23.08.1991 has issued in- Act, 1927 or relevant local principle clearance for transfer of 744 ha of Forest Act of the State forest land under two conditions which includes Government for starting the 188.07 ha Section-20 forest land and 555.93 ha construction work for phase –III Section-V forest land. Phase-III work has been undertaken by NTPC in Section-4 land only.
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without prior approval of the State Government.
9. It is also to mention here that a joint inspection of the area under question was held on 20.11.2012 by Chief Conservator of Forests (Central), MOEF Regional Office, Central Region, Lucknow along with the officials of NTPC and Forest Department. It is mentioned in the report forwarded after inspection that NTPC has undertaken non-forestry activities on forest land without obtaining formal approval, on account of which a condition should be stipulated regarding compensatory afforestation on double area of the degraded forest area. Therefore, it will be pertinent to include a condition regarding deposition of compensatory afforestation amount on 1112 ha degraded forest land which is double the section-4 forest land of 555.93 ha. In addition to the above, it is also to mention that NTPC has not undertaken any activity related to construction of ash dam or pipeline on proposed 146.31 ha forest land and the status of forest land is maintained as it was in the past. In view of the above the Government of Uttar Pradesh has requested this Ministry to consider the proposal for approval under section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
10. The proposal was again placed before FAC on 03.05.2016 and the FAC recommended that: (i) User agency to search alternate non- forest land for construction of ash Dyke. (ii) Regional office Lucknow shall re-inspect the area and report the present legal status of 744 ha for which stage I approval was granted under Forest (conservation) Act in 1991 11. As per the above recommendation of FAC, the State Govt. of Uttar Pradesh and Regional Office, Lucknow was requested vide this Ministry’s letter dated 31.05.2016for compliance as sought by FAC in its meeting held on 03.05.2016 .
12. With regard to search alternate non- forest land for construction of ash Dyke as sought by FAC, the User Agency has replied that a DGPS survey within 10 KM radius by Rihand Super Thermal Power Project, NTPC was carried out and no desired availability of Non-Forest land was found. This information has been forwarded by DFO vide their letter dated 22.12.2016, and further by Nodal Officer vide their letter dated 27.01.2017.
13. Regional office Lucknow has also been re-inspected the area as per recommendation of last FAC meeting on 03.05.2016 and their report had been forwarded vide their letter no. 8A/09/UP/1149/2012/FC/229 Dated 20.01.2017 which is reproduced below:
Specific Instruction for Site Inspection (SIR) by FAC: “Regional Office Lucknow shall re-inspect the area and report the present legal status of 744 ha for which stage-I approval was granted under forest (Conservation) Act 1980.” Brief Description: I. A land diversion proposal of 146.31 ha of forest land for construction of Rihand Super Thermal Power Project, Stage-III (2x500 MW) Ash Dam and Ash Pipeline in favour of NTPC has been submitted by the Govt. of U.P. vide letter No. 2663/14-2-2011 dated 21.10.2011 to the MOEF &CC. During appraisal of the proposal by FAC, it was noticed that the MOEF vide its letter No.8-412/89-FC dated 23.09.1991 has accorded in principle approval of 744.00 ha forest land with following conditions: a) The State Govt. should identify 744.00 ha of non-forest land immediately with comprehensive compensatory afforestation scheme and map. State Govt. should also take action for transfer of 744.00 ha of non- forest land in favour of Forest Department to be followed up with notification declaring the same a Protected Forest. b) The user agency will have to transfer the cost of compensatory afforestation in favour of Forest Department.
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However, till date the Govt. of India has not accorded final approval in this case but at the same time Rihand Super Thermal Power Project, has been established and in operation . II. The Ministry vide letter No.8-412/89-FC dated 31.05.2016 has directed this office for re- inspection the area and report of the present legal status of 744 ha for which Stage-I approval was granted under Forest (Conservation) Act in the year 1991. In past, the site inspection for this proposal has already been carried out twice and the report forwarded to MOEF &CC as follow:
a) Site Inspection was carried out by Shri Azam Zaidi IFS, Addl. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Central), MOEF, R.O., Lucknow inspected the site and the site inspection report was submitted to Ministry vide this office letter no. No.8A/UP/1139/2011/FC/1431 dated 15.02.2012. b) Site Inspection was carried out by Shri Y.K. Singh Chauhan, IFS CCF (Central), MOEF, RO, Lucknow inspected the site and the site inspection report was submitted to Ministry vide this office letter no. No.8A/UP/1139/2011/FC/381 dated 12.08.2013.
III. The proposal was discussed in Forest Advisory Committee on 03.05.2016 and the Committee has recommended that the following clarifications and document be obtained: a) User agency to search alternate non-forest land for construction of ash dyke. b) Regional Office, Lucknow shall re- inspect the area and report of the present legal status of 744 ha for which State-I approval was granted under FC Act in 1991.
Accordingly, a site inspection was carried out on 16.12.2016 after receipt of all the necessary document from field (NTPC) but the same were not authenticated by the Officials, Department of Forests, Uttar Pradesh. The authenticated documents have been submitted on 30th December 2016 by the officials of NTPC. Observations:
IV. NTPC has submitted a proposal for diversion of 951.620 ha forest land for establishment of Rihand Super Thermal Power Project, at Sonebhadra by the Secretary (forest), Govt. of U.P. vide letter no.4004/14-975/83 dated 23.08.1989 to the Ministry of Environmental & Forests and the Ministry vide its letter No. 8-412/89- FC dated 23.08.1991 has accorded in principle approval of 744.00 ha forest land with conditions mentioned in Para 1 above.
V. As per information provided by the State Government that Nodal Officer, UP vide letter no. 1026/11th -10 (120) dated 15.02.2016 and letter no. 342/11-C dated 13.08.2010 requested to the Ministry that the in – principle approval accorded for 744.00 ha forest land out of which 463.492 ha forest land has been declared as non-forest land. The only 280.508 ha forest land remains and therefore on which Forest Conservation Act is applicable, it is necessary to issue a corrigendum of in –principle approval for 280.508 ha. This issue of declaration of section 4 notified forest land in non -forest Land is to be viewed as per the judgments/ orders / directions of Hon’ble National Green Tribunal and Hon’ble Supreme Court.
VI. The Nodal Officer, UP. asked NTPC, the user agency for providing 280.508 ha non-forest land and money for compensatory afforestation. The user agency has deposited amount for compensatory afforestation on double degraded forest land. The Nodal Officer U.P. again asked from NTPC in context of Hon’ble Supreme Court order for deposition of NPV and the use agency has deposited NPV for 280.508 ha forest land.
VII. The use agency NTPC has shown various judgments of Hon’ble Supreme Court passed in WP(C) 1061/1982 Banwasi Sewa Ashram Vs. State of U.P. on various dates regarding occupation / acquisition of forest land for construction of Rihand Super Thermal Power Plant on various dated are as follows.
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a) Hon’ble Supreme Court Order dated 20.11.1986 b) Hon’ble Supreme Court Order dated 14.12.1988 c) Hon’ble Supreme Court Order dated 08.02.1989 d) Letter dated 16.09.1989 from Shri Ram Prakash Pandey, Commissioner, appointed by Hon’ble Supreme Court written to Conservator of Forests, Varanasi.
VIII. Thus due to the above orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and directions of Commissioner, Supreme Court, the total 744 ha.oOf land was classified as follows:
Total 744 ha of forest land for which Stage-I clearance was accorded in 1991
Land Notified Under Section-4 of IFA 1927:555.725 ha Land Notified under Land settled under Survey Land settled under Section-20 of IFA 1927: Settlement in favour of local Survey Settlement in 199.29 ha villagers: 463.507 ha (* to be favour of Gam Samaj: viewed as per recent directions 92.218 ha of Hon’b;e NGT & Hon’ble Supreme Court).
Break up of744 ha of forest land as per observation of the Nodal Officer, UP· vide letter no. 1026/IIC-10(120) dated 15.02.1996 addressed to MOEF
463.492 ha. forest land was declared as Forest (Conservation) Act will be applicable non-forest land during Survey on Section-4 settled with Forest Department Settlement, and hence Forest (92.218 ha) and Section-20 RF land (188.29 (Conservation) Act will not be ha) totaling 280.508 ha in occupancy of the applicable. Rihand Super Thermal Power Plant
IX. The site inspection was carried on 16.12.2016 during which the present status of 744 ha of land for which Stage-I clearance was granted in 1991 emerged as follows:
Total Land for which Stage-I Clearance was accorded in 1991: 744 ha. Land Notified Under Section-4: 555.725 ha Land Land settled under Survey Land settled under Survey Notified Settlement in favor of local Settlement in favor of Gram Under villagers: 463.507 ha Samaj: 92.218 ha Section-20: 188.29 ha NTPC utilized this land after Part of this land (62.892 ha) has Not utilized at acquiring from villagers as per the been utilized by NTPC while all by NTPC. orders of Honorable Supreme remaining (29.288 ha) is Court. unutilized. *This legality of settlement of section 4 forest land in favour of villagers needs to be viewed as per recent orders of Hon’ble NGT and Hon’ble Supreme Court. Legality of transfer of
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Section 4 notified forest land in favour of villagers shall be viewed as per recent directions/ orders/ judgments of Hon’ble National Green Tribunal, Like in OA No. 494 of 2015, MA No. 1166 of 2015, MA No. 1169 of 2015, MA no. 1164, A, B, C & D of 2015 order pronounced on 4th May 2016 etc.
The representatives of NTPC submitted that the land in village Mithini, Khamariya and Jheelo proposed for Ash Pipe and ash dyke is not utilized because the MOEF while according environmental clearance for Rihand STPP, Phase-III stipulated that the ash dyke should be at least 500 m away from the FRL of Rihand Reservoir and hence, the area proposed loses its relevance. X. Therefore, effectively, as on date, NTPC has utilized only 62.892 ha of Section-4 Forest land, which was settled in favour of Gram Samaj and considered as Forest Land by the Settlement Officers. The user agency, NTPC has submitted the following records for verification during site visit: a) Plot wise details of land records for all the three categories of land, as mentioned in para VIII above plotted on a colored map verified by DFO, Renukoot: Forest Range Officer , Jaraha and Sub-divisional Forest Officer (Muirpur) on 30.05.2013. b) Plot wise details of revenue records for all the plots mentioned above duly authenticated by DFO, Renukoot and User Agency. c) A copy of DGPS Survey report of 10 km. radius regarding alternate land for ash disposal.
XI. On 16.12.2016, random verification of plots from all the three categories was undertaken along with the team. Total fourteen plots were physically inspected and ground truthing was carried out. The observations of the visit are as follows: i) Section 20 Forest Land (188.29 ha) in villages Mithini, Khamariya and Jheelo, which was proposed for Ash Pipe and ash dyke has not been utilized at all. There is no establishment of NTPC in these villages and the land is in possession of Forest Department. ii) Section 20 Forest Land (occupied by villagers at the time of notification) in villages Khairi, Mitihini, Dodhar, Sirsoti, Naktu Adhaura and Bijpur (463.507 ha) has been utilized for various plant facilities. iii) Section 4 Forest Land ( not occupied by villagers at the time of notification and settled as forest land ) in villages Bijpur, Naktu Adhaura, Sirsoti, Dodhar, Mitihini, Khairi, Jheelo Khamariya (92.218 ha) has been partly (62.892 ha) utilized for some of the plant facilities, while remaining is in possession of Forest Department. It would be pertinent that demarcation of such patches may be carried out at the cost of user agency due to the fact such forest areas were not under active management of Forest Division on account of stage-I approval accorded to user agency. iv) However, minor variations in total area (surveyed during 2013 and records collected during 2016) have been observed due to change of Khatauni numbers from old to new numbers. XII. NTPC Authorities present during site inspection provided letter no. 670/DLRC-pra patra-2014 dated 27.02.2015 from District Collector, Sonebhadra certifying the status of 62.892 ha land notified under Section-4 as follows: a) 14.506 Ha. Land in villages Bijpur, Dodhar, Naktu Aghaura East, Mitihini and Sirsoti is the Gram Samaj Land. b) 26.476 Ha. Jungle in villages Bijpur and Sirsoti are jungle included in Gram Sama, hence Gram Samaj land.
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c) 21.891 Ha. Land in villages Dodhar, Khairi, Mitihini and Naktu Aghaura is Patthar/ Pahad Gram Samaj Land. d) Thus, a total of 62.873 Ha. Land is Gram Samaj/ Jungle Gram Samaj/ is Patthar- Pahad Gram Samaj Land and only Plot No.234 K with area 0.025 Ha. Land is hillock land under the management of Forest Department, hence Forest Land. e) The above Gram Samaj land (62.873 Ha.) may be acquired by NTPC from the Government under Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Vinash evam Bhumi Vyavastha Adhiniyam,1950 XIII. Few photographs of site inspection are enclosed for the perusal of FAC. XIV. The meeting with DM (Sonebhadra) could not materialize due to his tour.
Conclusions: Considering the observations above, the status of land is as follows:
Section-4 Forest Land: 555.725 ha Section-20 Forest Land: 188.29 ha 463.507 Ha settled in 92.218Ha Not utilised by NTPC favour of villagers as 62.892 Ha. 29.288 Ha: not per Hon’ble Supreme Utilised by utilised by Court Order NTPC NTPC
I. NTPC has utilized only 62.992 ha of forest land notified under Section-4 of Indian Forest Act, 1927. II. NTPC has utilized 463.507 ha of forest land notified under Section-4 but settled in favour of villagers by Settlement Officers as per directions of Honourable Supreme Court. During the site inspection, the DFO briefed the undersigned that the division is contemplating appeal to Hon’ble Supreme Court in this regard. III. NTPC has not utilized 29.288 ha of forest land notified under Section-4. This land is in small patches, which are not in use of the NTPC. This land is in possession of forest department, but not under active forestry management. IV. NTPC has not utilized 188.29 ha of forest land notified under Section -20 and this land is in possession of forest department. V. At certain patches sustenance agriculture like cultivation of pulses through primitive means were observed on forest land. It would be pertinent that demarcation of such patches may be carried out at the cost of user agency due to the fact that such forest areas were not under active management of Forest Division on account of stage –I approval accorded to user agency. These forest patches need clear demarcation on ground and removal of encroachment.
XV. The Section -4 notified reserved forest land, during settlement process under the direction and supervision of Hon’ble Supreme Court order in W.P. 1061 /1982 (Banwasi Sewa Ashram vs. State Govt. of U.P.), the Settlement Officer has settled Section-4 land in favour of villagers and it was confirmed by the Appellate Court as per direction of Hon’ble Supreme Court. Legality of transfer of section-4 notified forest land in favour of villagers shall be viewed as per recent directions / orders / judgments of Hon’ble National Green Tribunal and Hon’ble Supreme Court. Like in OA no.494 of 2015, MA no.1166 of 2015, MA no.1169 of 2015, MA no.1164A,B,C &D of 2015 order pronounced on 4th May 2016 etc.
XVI. Due to the lapse of time in approval process, patches of Section-20 and Section-4 forest land not utilized by NTPC were not under management of either NTPC or Department of Forest, UP. These patches need proper demarcation at the field level and to be brought under active forestry management. FAC may provide directions regarding cost of demarcation to be borne by user agency, i.e. NTPC.
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14. Recommendation of FAC on 16.05.2017: FAC after thorough deliberation and interaction with user agency recommended that: i. The project proposal is for construction of ash Dyke and ash pipeline for dumping ash from Rihand thermal power project stage III. This thermal power project has been given stage I approval on 23.08.1991 and stage II has not been given till date as the compliance of conditions imposed in stage-I has not been submitted. Construction of Rihand thermal power project on the forest land without stage II approval is violation of the provision of Forest conservation Act 1980.Regional office Lucknow had informed that due to various judgments of hon’ble supreme court ,the land which was considered as forest under section 4 of IFA 1927 and for which stage I was given had been settled in favor of local people. RO Lucknow had requested that the legality of section 4 notified forest land in favor of villagers shall be viewed as per the recent directions/ Orders/judgments of Hon’ble National Green Tribunal and Hon’ble supreme court like in OAno 494 of 2015,MA no 1166 of 2015,MA no 1169 of 2015, MA no 1164A,B,C &D of 2015 order pronounced on 4th May 2015.In this regard it has been decided that a legal view shall be taken prior to any decision on the issue.
ii. A committee is formed under the chairmanship Sh. VK Singh APPCF Lucknow, and members Sh Chinta Mani Pandey Additional commissioner Agriculture (FAC member), scientist from regional office Lucknow, Legal expert, nominee from state government (nodal officer) and Sh. Sandeep Sharma AIG(FC) to examine the legality involved in land in possession of NTPC particularly land with section 4 notification under Indian Forest Act 1927 in light of various court orders in this regard and status of compliance of Stage–I clearance. The committee will visit the site and examine the legal status of forest land in possession of NTPC for which stage-I approval had already been accorded, identify areas, if any, which are forest land but no forest clearance has been obtained by NTPC, extent of violation committed and explore the possibility of using abandoned mines as ash dyke in the area to avoid further diversion of forest land and to suggest whether the area applied for ash dyke is the only alternative for running of the NTPC power plant. The committee shall submit report within a month and the same shall be examined and placed before the FAC.
15. As per the recommendation of Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) in its meeting held on 16.05.2017, a committee under the Chairmanship of Sh. V. K. Singh, Addl. PCCF (Central), Regional Office, Lucknow was constituted on 05.06.2017 (Pg.1593/c) to examine the legality involved in land in possession of NTPC particularly land with section 4 notification under Indian Forest Act 1927 in light of various court orders in this regard and status of compliance of Stage–I clearance with a request to submit their report within one month. But the report of the committee was not received in the prescribed time in the Ministry. Accordingly, the Ministry vide its letter dated 18.10.2017 (Pg.1594-1595/c) requested the committee to expedite their report at the earliest for further consideration of the proposal.
16. Sh. V. K. Singh, Chairperson of the above said Committee & Addl. PCCF (Central), Regional Office, Lucknow vide his letter No.8A/09/UP/1149/2012/FC/118 dated 31.10.2017(Pg.1596-1652/c) has submitted the report of the committee intimating that the site inspection was carried out on 9th and 10th July, 2017 with all the members of the committee and the delay in submission of report is due to non- submission of information from the State Govt. The committee report is reproduced below:
I. INTRODUCTION: Mandate accorded through decision taken on agenda item 1 by Forest Advisory Committee in its meeting held on 16th May 2017 is quoted below:
“FAC after thorough deliberation and interaction with user agency recommended that:
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1. The project proposal is for construction of ash Dyke and ash pipeline for dumping ash from Rihand thermal power project stage III. This thermal power project has been given stage I approval on 23.08.1991 and stage II has not been given till date as the compliance of conditions imposed in stage- I has not been submitted. Construction of Rihand thermal power project on the forest land without stage II approval is violation of the provision of Forest conservation Act 1980.Regional office Lucknow had informed that due to various judgments of Hon’ble Supreme Court, the land which was considered as forest under section 4 of IFA 1927 and for which stage I was given had been settled in favor of local people. RO Lucknow had requested that the legality of section 4 notified forest land in favor of villagers shall be viewed as per the recent directions/ Orders/judgments of Hon’ble National Green tribunal and Hon’ble supreme court like in OA no 494 of 2015,MA no 1166 of 2015,MA no 1169of 2015,MA no 1164A,B,C &D of 2015 order pronounced on 4th May 2015.In this regard it has been decided that a legal view shall be taken prior to any decision on the issue 2. A committee is formed under the chairmanship Sh. VK Singh APPCF Lucknow, and members Sh. Chinta Mani Pandey Additional commissioner Agriculture (FAC member), scientist from regional office Lucknow, Legal expert, nominee from state government (nodal officer) and Sh. Sandeep Sharma AIG(FC) to examine the legality involved in land in possession of NTPC particularly land with section 4 notification under Indian Forest Act 1927 in light of various court orders in this regard and status of compliance of Stage–I clearance. The committee will visit the site and examine the legal status of forest land in possession of NTPC for which stage-I approval had already been accorded, identify areas, if any, which are forest land but no forest clearance has been obtained by NTPC, extent of violation committed and explore the possibility of using abandoned mines as ash dyke in the area to avoid further diversion of forest land and to suggest whether the area applied for ash dyke is the only alternative for running of the NTPC power plant.
The committee shall submit report within a month and the same shall be examined and placed before the FAC.”
The decision of FAC for constitution of committee for field inspection and subsequent submission of report was carried through office order F No. 8-412/1989-FC (Pt.) dated 5th June 2017 from AIG (FC), MoEF&CC, GoI (Annexure A) (pg. 1609/c). The broad terms of reference/objectives assigned to the committee as per decision of FAC are mentioned below:
1. The legality involved in section 4 notification under Indian Forest Act 1927 in light of various court orders 2. Status of compliance of Stage I clearance 3. Extent of violation and explore the possibility of using abandoned mines as ash dyke 4. The area applied for subsequent stage for ash dyke is the only alternative for running the NTPC power plant.
Shri Ashok Mehta, Additional Solicitor General, Allahabad High Court was nominated as legal expert, Dr S. K. Lal Scientist C of Regional Office, MoEF&CC, Lucknow was nominated as environmental expert and Shri Prasant Verma, IFS, CCF cum Nodal Officer, Department of Forests, Government of UP was nominated by State Government as its’ nominee in the committee. Date of field inspection was scheduled from 9th to 11th July 2017 and the same were communicated to all committee members through 8A/09/UP/1149/2012/FC/40 dated 6th July 2017. Prior consent of all committee members was obtained through e-mail and telephonic conversation. Except Sh Chinta Mani Pandey Additional Commissioner, Agriculture (FAC member) all other members agreed to visit the site on proposed dates for site inspection. FAC member due to his pre occupation asked chairman of the committee to carry out field visit in his absence. Prior intimation to all field functionaries including officials of Revenue Department, Department
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of Forest and NTPC officials was provided and it was also advised to them to remain present along with relevant documents during field visit of the Committee.
II. BACKGROUND OF THE PROPOSAL:A land diversion proposal of 146.31 ha of forest land for construction of Rihand Super Thermal Power Project Stage-III (2x500 MW) Ash Dam and Ash Pipeline in favor of NTPC has been submitted by the Govt. of U.P. vide letter No. 2663/14-2-2011 dated 21.10.2011 to the MOEF&CC. During appraisal of the proposal by FAC, it was noticed that the MOEF vide its letter No. 8-412/89-FC dated 23.08.1991 has accorded in principle approval of 744.00 ha forest land with following conditions:
a. The State Govt. should identify 744.00 ha of non-forest land immediately with comprehensive compensatory afforestation scheme and map. State Govt. should also take action for transfer of 744.00 ha of non-forest land in favor of Forest Department to be followed up with notification declaring the same a Protected Forest.
b. The user agency will have to transfer the cost of compensatory afforestation in favor of Forest Department.
The forest land diversion proposals was for construction of ash dyke and ash pipeline for dumping ash from Rihand thermal power project I &II. Stage II approval has not been accorded till date as the compliance of conditions imposed in stage I has not been submitted. NTPC has submitted a proposal for diversion of 951.620 ha forest land for establishment of Rihand Thermal Power Project at Sonebhadra by the Secretary (Forest), Govt. of U.P. vide letter no. 4004/14-3-975/83 dated 23.08.1989 to the Ministry of Environment & Forests and the Ministry vide its letter No. 8-412/89-FC dated 23.08.1991 has accorded in principle approval of 744.00 ha forest land with conditions mentioned above.
The main issue/hindrance in according final approval (stage II approval) is due to lack of clarity regarding patches of land which are section 4 notified forest land under Indian Forest Act, 1927 part of 744 ha forest land for which the case of diversion was initiated. For sake of clarity break up of forest land as per initial proposal which was accorded stage I approval vide letter no. 412/89-FC dated 23rd August 1991 is summarized in following table:
TABLE 1
Legal Status of the Extent (in ha) Remarks Forestland
463.507 Settled in favor of villagers Section 4 notified 62.892 Utilized by NTPC forestland under Indian Forest Act, 1927 29.288 Not utilized by NTPC
Sub total 555.725 Section 20 notified forestland under Indian 188.29 Not utilized by NTPC Forest Act, 1927
TOTAL 744.015
The project construction started in 1983 without seeking approval under Forest (Conservation) Act 1980. During that period, a Writ Petition (Criminal) no. 1061 of 1982 in Banwasi Sewa Ashram versus State of
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UP in Hon’ble Supreme Court was pending regarding legal status of section 4 notified forestland. Rihand Super Thermal Power Project, NTPC became party in ongoing Writ Petition. Hon’ble Supreme Court through various directives dated 20th November 1986, 14th December 1988 and 8th February 1989 issued procedure and process of settlement of section 4 notified forest land. This resulted in settlement of 463.507 ha of section 4 notified forest land in favor of villagers. The Nodal Officer, U.P. asked NTPC, the user agency for providing 280.508 ha non-forest land and money for compensatory afforestation. The user agency has deposited amount for compensatory afforestation on double degraded forest land. The Nodal Officer, U.P. again asked from NTPC in context of Hon’ble Supreme Court order for deposition of NPV and the user agency has deposited NPV for 280.508 ha forest land.
The Ministry vide letter No. 8-412/89-FC dated 31.05.2016 has directed this office for re-inspection the area and report of the present legal status of 744 ha for which Stage-I approval was granted under Forest (Conservation) Act in the year 1991. In past, the site inspection for this proposal has already been carried out twice and the report forwarded to MoEF & CC as follows:
a. Site Inspection was carried out by Shri Azam Zaidi IFS, Addl. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Central), MoEF, R.O., Lucknow inspected the site and the site inspection report was submitted to Ministry vide this office letter no. 8A/UP/1139/2011/FC/1431 dated 15.02.2012. b. Site Inspection was carried out by Shri Y. K. Singh Chauhan, IFS, CCF (Central), MoEF, RO, Lucknow inspected the site and site inspection report was submitted to the Ministry vide office letter NO. 8A/UP/09/1139/2011/FC/381 dated 12.08.2013.
III. LEGAL ISSUES RELEVANT TO THIS PROPOSAL: The user agency NTPC has made plea based on judgments of Hon’ble Supreme Court passed in WP(C) 1061/1982 Banwasi Sewa Ashram Vs. State of U.P. on various dates regarding occupation/ acquisition of forest land for construction of Rihand Super Thermal Power Plant on various dated are as follows: i) Hon’ble Supreme Court Order dated 20.11.1986 ii) Hon’ble Supreme Court Order dated 14.12.1988 iii) Hon’ble Supreme Court Order dated 08.02.1989 iv) Letter dated 16.09.1989 from Shri Ram Prakash Pandey, Commissioner, appointed by Hon’ble Supreme Court written to Conservator of Forests, Varanasi. As per information provided by the State Government that Nodal Officer, UP vide letter no. 1026/11th- 10(120) dated 15.02.1996 and letter no. 342/11-C dated 13.08.2010 requested to the Ministry that the in- principle approval accorded for 744.00 ha forest land out of which 463.492 ha forest land has been declared as non-forest land. The only 280.508 ha forest land remains and therefore on which Forest Conservation Act is applicable, it is necessary to issue a corrigendum of in-principle approval for 280.508 ha. This issue of declaration of section 4 notified forest land in Non-Forest Land is to withstand legal scrutiny based on recent judgments/orders/directions of Hon’ble National Green Tribunal and Hon’ble Supreme Court.
As per the order of Hon’ble Supreme Court in IA Nos 3722 in IA 3026-3027 in writ petition (Civil) 202/1995 TN Godavarman Thirumulpad vs. Government of India dated 8th September 2016
“….It is apparent from a collective reading of Sections 3 and 4 of the Indian Forest Act, extracted hereinabove, that in case of a deletion of an area, which was proposed to be declared as a reserved forest, the area so deleted will revert to the original nomenclature of the said area, i.e., the nomenclature which the land had, prior to the issuance of the notification under Section 4 of the Indian Forest Act.
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Out of the kinds of land expressed in section 3, it is apparent, that if the land notified under Section 4 was not forest land but waste land, or some other kind of land over which Government has proprietary rights, on the deletion of the areas under notified under Section 4, such land would stand restored to its original nomenclature as forest land and /or alternatively such type of land, such as waste land, over which Government has proprietary rights. In the afore mentioned latter category of land, no clearance contemplated under Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980, can be insisted on. It is only with reference to reserved forest land, or land which is notified for being declared as reserved forest, or forest land, that a clearance is contemplated under Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980….” (A copy of judgment is enclosed as Annexure B)(Pg. 1609-1626/c)
Order of Principal Bench of Hon’ble NGT in M.A No. 1166 of 2015 (I.A No. 2469 of 2009), M.A No. 1169 of 2015 (I.A No. 3877 of 2015) In W.P (C) No. 202 of 1995 and other MAs and Original Application no. 494/2015 in CWP 130/2011
“………In the light of the aforesaid discussions the recommendations of the CEC are accepted with the following directions:
The orders passed by the Forest Settlement Officers for exclusion 1083.231 hectares of the land notified under Section 4 of Indian Forest Act are declared null and void as the settlement proceedings directed by the Supreme court was finalized several years prior to M/s. JAL obtained right over the land and also because the Forest Settlement Officer or the Additional District Judge has no power to exclude the said lands from the notification issued under Section 4 which has already been finalized. The fact that no notification under Section 20 in respect of the said land were issued by the state, as against the unambiguous direction of the Supreme Court and the solemn assurance made to the Supreme Court by the state, and as per the judgment on determination of the appeal the order of the Additional District Judge would become final and is an order passed under the Forest Act, will not empower the Forest Settlement Officer or the Additional District Judge to entertain any subsequent application in respect of already settled lands. In view of the declaration by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Banwasi Seva Ashram case dated 20th November, 1986 the order of the Additional District Judge would be final and the Government had to implement the order. The failure of the State Government to notify the said lands as reserved forest would not enable the State Government or the Forest Settlement Officer to exclude the very same land, when earlier it was found that the lands cannot be excluded and the order has already become final and nobody exercised the liberty reserved by the Supreme Court in the judgment to approach the court if directions are necessary. Therefore, renewal of the mining lease, in favor of M/s. JAL can only be after obtaining prior approval of Central Government as provided under Section 2 of Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and that too on payment of NPV and other payments warranted under law. ……..”(A copy of judgment is enclosed as Annexure C) (Pg. 1627/c)
Both the judgments have crystallized the applicability of Forest (Conservation) 1980 on Section 4 notified forest land and even reversed the orders of Forest Settlement Officers. As per the frame work outlined through these court orders issues pertaining to pending stage II approval in the proposal have been analyzed by the committee constituted by the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC).
IV. SITE INSPECTION: Site Inspection was conducted from 9th July 2017. A briefing session was held in the meeting hall of Guest House of Rihand Super Thermal Power Plant in the morning of 10th July 2017. Members of the committee and other officials were assigned different role as per the mandate of the committee. List of various officials who were part of site inspection is enclosed as Annexure D (Pg. 1628/c). Sample of various category of forest land i.e. section 4 notified under IFA 1927 utilized/non - utilized by NTPC, section 29 notified under IFA 1927 utilized/non- utilized b and section 4 notified forestland settled in favor of villagers who had been paid compensation were visited by the team members to ascertain the as of now condition and veracity of claims/pleadings submitted by the State Forest
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Department and User Agency. Expert member on Environment was asked visit abandoned coal mine area to find out feasibility of creation of ash dyke for stage III of the project who has submitted its report which is provided at Annexure E. (Pg. 1629-1643/c)
In the evening, a meeting was held with officials of Land Revenue Department, Department of Forest and site officials of NTPC. During the field visit it became imperative to find out status of land notified as section 4 forestland under Indian Forest Act 1927 which was later settled in favor of private person as on that date when it was proclaimed/notified as section 4 forest land. During meeting field level functionaries submitted copy of old working plan(working period 1949-50 to 1963-64) (Annexure F : Pg. 1644- 1647/c)where section 4 notified forest land is part of Dudhi Estate for which working plan has been prepared. NTPC officials have submitted documents regarding Viewing the complexity and exhaustive nature of work, it was decided to create a district level team to go through old record and find out legal status of section 4 notified forestland on the date of proclamation. This is issue was formally conveyed to the Principal Secretary, Department of Forests, Government of Uttar Pradesh vide letter no. 8A/09/UP/1149/2012/FC/45 dated 13th July 2017(Annexure G : Pg. 1648-1649/c)
The information from field has not been submitted from the officials of state government and user agency till date despite several reminders issued vide letters having even number dated 1st August 2017 and 12th September 2017 through Principal Secretary, Department of Forest, Government of UP (Annexure H1 & H2 : Pg. 1650-1652/c)). A letter dated 6th October 2017 from Executive Director, NTPC; Rihand was received seeking time up to 15th October 2017 for submission of details but no field details have materialized till the date this report is finalized. V. CONCLUSION: The conclusion specific mandate accorded is summarized in following points:
A. During the visit, the committee had taken into account court orders regarding land declared as forest under Sectin-4 of Indian Forest Act, 1927. As per the Hon’ble Supreme Court order dated 8th September, 2016 in I.A. No. 3722, I.A. No. 3026-3027 in Writ Petition (Civil) 202/1995 T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad Vs. Government of India, the State Government was asked to verify the status of land under dispute prior to the date of notification under Section 4 of IFA 1927. Despite repeated reminders State Government had not submitted the status of land prior to notification till date. In absence of record, as sought from the State Government, the Committee thus concludes that the area was forest land in revenue records prior to the date of notification under Section-4 of IFA 1927. NTPC had already developed the site and established its infrastructure over the said land. It was reported that based on settlement done by the settlement officer, NTPC had paid the compensation of land to the villagers in whose favor the land was settled. Taking into account the above decision of the Committee, it is recommended that the said land should be treated as forestland for the purpose of Forest (Conservation) Act 1980 and compensatory levies, NPV and other payments warranted under law shall be imposed accordingly as per the procedure prescribed under FCA 1980 for the entire land. B. Status of compliance of conditions imposed vide approval letter No. 8-412/89-FC dated 23.08.1991 are provided in tabular form below: TABLE 2
Sr Conditions of Approval in Principle Status of compliance No.
The state Govt. should identify 744 ha. of User Agency has deposited non forest land immediately with compensatory afforestation comprehensive compensatory afforestation 1. amount for 280.508 ha scheme and map. State Govt. should also equivalent land without take action for transfer of 744 ha of non-
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forest land in favor of Forest Deptt. To be providing NFL (Rs 49.695 followed up with notification declaring the lakhs on 21st October 1997) same as protected forest.
The user agency will have to transfer cost
of compensatory afforestation in favor of As above. 2. Forest Deptt.
The user agency has deposited amount of Rs 25,80,67,360.00 (Rupees twenty five crore eighty lakhs sixty seven thousand & three hundred sixty only) regarding NPV for 280.508 ha @ Rs 9.2 lakhs per ha through letter no. 284 dated 12th July 2010.
C. As per the record and subsequent field visit by the Committee to the site, the extent of violation has been ascertained to the extent of land utilized by the NTPC i.e. 4,63.507 ha (section 4 notified forest land settled in favor of private individual where state government & NTPC have failed to submit record as proof for private ownership at the time of proclamation of section 4 under IFA 1927)+ 62.892 ha (section 4 forest land used by NTPC) = 526.399 ha. The balance forest land not utilized by NTPC i.e. 29.288 ha (section 4 notified) + 188.29 ha (section 20 notified) = 217.578 ha may be returned by the NTPC to the State Forest Department with proper demarcation on ground. The possibility of abandoned coal mine to be used as ash dyke purposes was explored by Dr. S.K. Lal Scientist C of Regional Office, MoEF&CC whose report is appended as Annexure I. As per the report, the possibility of leaching of heavy metal in Rihand Reservoir whose water is used for drinking water purposes needs detailed analysis before taking final decision in this regard. D. The proposed forest area applied for subsequent stage for ash dyke was visited by the Committee and the Committee is of the view that this appears to be only alternative on techno economic basis but a separate detailed site inspection is required for forest clearance purposes.
It is proposed that the above facts of the proposal may be placed before FAC in its forthcoming meeting to be held on 16.11.2017 for examination and appropriate recommendation.
****
Agenda No. 3 F. No. 8-49/2017-FC Sub: Proposal for according permission for use of 4.62 ha. of forest land within total Mining lease area of 192.81 ha. in Roida-C Iron and Manganese Mining lease located entirely inside Sidhamath RF of Keonjhar Forest Division in Keonjhar district for undertaking exploratory drilling of 83 no. of boreholes of 4” dia. (83 boreholes @ 0.02 ha each totalling 1.66 ha and 2.96 ha. for construction of road) by M/s Odisha Mining Corporation Ltd. for prospecting of minerals. S.N.1® Page 1-142/cor. 1. The State Government of Odisha vide their letter 10F (Cons)-45/2016-16613/F&E dated 09.08.2017 and 10F (Cons)-45/2016-14590/F&E dated 12.07.2017 submitted the above mentioned proposal seeking prior approval of the Central Government under Section-2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. 2. The said proposal is showing pending on the website of forest clearance with Regional Office, Bhubaneswar. The Regional Office, Bhubaneswar vide their letter no. 5-ORB321/2017 dated 18.10.2017 (pg. 337/c) informed that the total mining lease area of this lease is 192.81 ha located entirely inside Sidhamath RF of
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Keonjhar Forest Division in Keonjhar District and the proposal is under purview of Ministry (HQ) and the State Govt. vide their letter dated 09..08.2017 has requested the Ministry to take up the matter with NIC, New Delhi so that online application now shown to be pending with RO, shall show to be pending at Ministry (HQ) to take necessary action on the proposal. Therefore, RO Bhubaneswar requested to kindly take up the matter with NIC, New Delhi so that online application which is showing pending with RO, shall show to be pending with the Ministry (HQ) for taking further necessary action. Accordingly,NIC is to be requested in this regard. 3. The facts related to the proposal as contained in the State Government’s letter dated 09.08.2017 are given below in the form of fact sheet: FACT SHEET 1. Name of the Proposal Proposal for according permission for use of 4.62 ha. of forest land within total Mining lease area of 192.81 ha. in Roida-C Iron and Manganese Mining lease located entirely inside Sidhamath RF of Keonjhar Forest Division in Keonjhar district for undertaking exploratory drilling of 83 no. of boreholes of 4” dia. (83 boreholes @ 0.02 ha each totalling 1.66 ha and 2.96 ha. for construction of road) by M/s Odisha Mining Corporation Ltd. for prospecting of minerals 2. Location (i) State Odisha (ii) District Keonjhar 3. Particulars of Forests: (i) Name of Forest Division Keonjhar Forest Division : 4.62 ha and Forest area involved. Drilling of bore holes : 1.66 Construction road/path 2.96
(ii) Legal status/Sy.No. Sidhamath Reserved Forest
4. Vulnerability to erosion The site falls under the physiographic Joda barbil plateau extending from Chamakpur to the border of Singhbhum of Jharkhand in north and boarder of Bonai in the west. This region is very largely an extension southwards of Singhbhum rocks. This group of rocks comprising trap, tuffites, shale, quartzite, phyllite, banded haematite jasper and banded haematite quartzite form high hill ranges with narrow deep valley in between. In this area massive deposit of iron and manganese are associated with B.H.J. and shales respectively. The undulating hilly slope is prone to soil erosion. 5. (i) Vegetation NA
(ii) Forest Type 3C/C2e Moist Peninsular Valley Sal
(iii) Average crown density of 0.6 vegetation
(iv) No. of trees enumerated/to NA be actually felled 6. Whether area is significant The wildlife present in and around the forest land proposed to be from wildlife point of view utilized for prospecting are Sambar, Spotted deer, Barking deer, Jackal, Hyena, Elephant, Sloth Bear, Leopard, Mongoose, Peacock, Cuckoo, grey Jungle Fowl, Blue jay, Owl, bluelegged Bustard Golden-backed Woodpecker, Python, Krait, Cobra, Russell’s Viper, blind snake, Monitor, Chamelion, Catla Catla,
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Labio rohita, Cirrhinus mrigala, Wallago atttu, Labio rohita, Cirrhinus mrigala, Wallago attu, Notopturus chitala and Chana striatus. 7. Whether forms part of National The proposed site does not form part of National Park, Wild life park, Wildlife Sanctuary, Sanctuary, Biosphere reserve, Tiger Reserve, Elephant Corridor, Biosphere Reserve, Tiger Wildlife Migration Corridor. However, the site falls in elephant Reserve, Elephant Corridor, habitat zone-2 as per report of ORSAC, Bhubaneswar. etc. (if so, details of the area and comments of the Chief Wildlife Warden 8. Whether any RET species of No rare/endangered/unique species of flora and fauna is found in flora and fauna are found in the the area but however, the area falls under elephant habitat zone-2 area. If so details thereof as per report of ORSAC, Bhubaneswar and movement of wild elephant is often noticed. 9. Approximate distance of the The proposed prospecting operation site within the mining lease proposed site for diversion is situated in Sidharmath Reserved Forest. from boundary of forest. 10. Whether any protected No archaeological/ heritage site/defence establishment or any other important monuments is located in the area. 11. Whether any work of in No violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 has been carried out (Yes/No). If yes details of the same including period of work done, action taken on erring officials. Whether work in violation is still in progress. 12. Whether the requirement of Yes forest land as proposed by the user agency in col. 2 of Part-I is unavoidable and barest minimum for the project, if no recommended area item-wise with details of alternatives examined. 13. Whether clearance under the NA Environment (protection) Act, 1986 is required? 14. Compensatory Afforestation (i) Details of non-forest NA as reported in part-II. area/degraded forest area identified for CA, its As per CA scheme (Pg. 247-265/c) 2.96 ha. of non-forest land has distance from adjoining been identified for bald hill plantation in village Silet of Thuamul forest, number of patches, Rampur Tehsil of Kalahandi district for compensatory sixe of each patches. afforestation. (ii) Map showing non- Pg. 265/c forest/degraded forest area identified for CA and adjoining forest boundaries.
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(iii) Detailed CA scheme Detailed CA scheme is available in file at pg. Pg. 247-265/c. including species to be planted, implementing agency, time schedule, cost structure, etc. (iv) Total financial outlay for Rs. 13,11,800.00 (Pg-258/c) CA (v) Certificate from the Site Suitability Certificate submitted by DFO, Kalahandi South competent authority Division (Pg-255/c). However, non-encumbrance certificate is regarding suitability of not given. the area identified for CA and from management point of view. 15. Catchment Area Treatment NA 16. Rehabilitation of Oustees a) No of families involved Nil b) Category of families NA c) Details of rehabilitation NA plan 17. Employment likely to be generated a) Whether the project is NA likely to generate employment b) Permanent/ Regular Employment (Number of person) c) Temporary Employment (Number of person-days) 18. Compliance of Scheduled NA Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006
19. Site Inspection Report by DFO Pg-67-69/c
20. Cost Benefit Ratio NA 21. Total Cost of the Project Rs 637.49 (Rupees in lakhs) 22. Recommendation i. DFO Recommended (Pg-48/c) ii. RCCF Consider for approval on its own merit (Pg-49/c) Recommended (Pg-50/c) iii. PCCF/Nodal Officer Recommended (Pg-51/c) iv State Government
3. The State Government of Odisha in their letter dated 09.08.2017 informed this Ministry as below:
Brief description:. The State Government in Mining & Geology Department had granted a Mining lease over 192.81 ha. of land for Manganese ore in village Sidhamatha (Roida-C) in Keonjhar district in favour of OMC Ltd. Original Mining lease for Roida-C Manganese mines was executed on 30.12.1985 over an area of 476.50acres (192.81ha) for 20 years i.e. with effect from 8.2.1977 to 7.2.1997. Later Iron ore was included in the lease as an additional mineral for which additional lease deed was executed on 16.10.1992. On the application of the lessee dt. 31.1.1997 for 1st RML, the 1stRML was granted by State Government in Steel &
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Mines Department over 192.81ha. for a period of 20 years w.e.f 8.2.1997 to 7.2.2017 vide Proceedings No.2753/SM dt. 13.3.2000. The lessee, however, filed a representation dt. 27.2.2003 to the Director of Mines, Odisha requesting to split up the granted area in to two blocks i.e. Block-I over 96.783ha. which is already having forest clearance and Block-II over 96.027ha. for the purpose of execution of lease deed over Block-I and for filing of diversion proposal over Block-II. State Government having considered the recommendation of Director of Mines, Odisha, allowed splitting up the granted area to two blocks as indicated above granted renewal of mining lease over 96.783ha. for a period of 20 years w.e.f 8.2.1997 vide Proceedings No. 6720/SM dt. 25.4.2006. The lease deed was executed accordingly on 23.9.2008. Copy of grant order and lease deed executed during 1st RML are enclosed to the proposal. However, following insertion of Section 8(A) in the MMDR Amendment Act, 2015, the State Government in Steel & Mines Department vide their Order No. 1625/SM dt. 25.2.2016 had ordered that the period of original lease is deemed to be granted for 50 years i.e. from 8.2.1977 to 7.2.2027 over the originally granted area of 192.81ha. by extending the lease period from 8.2.2017 to 7.2.2027 in terms of Rule 3(1) of Mineral(Mining by Government company) Rules, 2015, subject to execution of supplementary lease deed after obtaining all statutory clearances, payment of requisite dues as per law within three months. Entire ML area is located within the Sidhamath RF in Keonjhar district. During 1st RML period, a proposal for diversion of 182.709ha.was filed and processed within the ML area of 192.810ha. excluding 10.101ha. in safety zone for approval of Government of India, MoEF&CC. However, the Government of India, MoEF&CC vide their letter No. 8-121/97-FC dt. 29.10.1998 had accorded final forest clearance for 96.783ha. of forest land(50ha. fresh forest land + 46.783ha. of broken up forest land). Since the period of mining lease under the FC Act, 1980 was initially for 10 years w.e.f 8.2.1997, the MoEF&CC, GoI vide their letter No. 8- 121/1997-FC dt. 14.1.2008 had extended the permission granted under FC Act, 1980 to be co-terminus with mining lease granted under MMDR Act for 20 years w.e.f. 8.2.1997. In view of provisions of MoEF&CC, GoI vide F.No. 11-599/2014-FC dt. 1.4.2015/30.11.2016, permission of GoI, MoEF&CC is available for remaining forest land under Section 2(iii) of FC Act, 1980 in this lease subject to payment of NPV for entire forest area and compliances of others conditions stipulated in the said guidelines. Further, the validity of forest clearance granted over 96.783ha. under Section 2(ii) of FC Act, 1980 shall also be co-terminus with the extended ML period i.e. up to 7.2.2027 subject to compliance of conditions prescribed in MoEF&CC guidelines F.No. 11- 51/2015-FC dt. 1.4.2015. It has been reported by PCCF, Odisha that NPV amounting to Rs. 14,08,95,840/- has been deposited by the lessee for entire forest land of the mining lease.It has also been reported that the supplementary lease deed was executed on 2.2.2017 for the extended period of lease copy of which is placed in the proposal. 192.81 ha. of ML area comprises of forest land entirely located within Sidhamath RF in Keonjhar district. It is a working mines of OMC Ltd. at present being operated by M/s IDC Ltd. The ML area finds place within the latitude 220 01’ 53.8” N to 220 03’ 3.4”N and 8503’ 37.08”E Longitude to 850 24’ 412.29”E longitude and is delineated in Survey of India topo-sheet No. 73F/8.
The proposed site falls under the physiographic Joda –Barbil plateau extending from Chamakpur to the boarder of Singhbhum of Jharkhand in North and border of Bonai in the west. This region is an extension southwards of Singhbhum rocks. This group of rocks comprising trap, tuffites, shale, quartzite, phyllite, Banded HaematiteJasper(BHJ) and Banded HaematiteQuartzite(BHQ) form high hill ranges with narrow deep valley in between. In this area massive deposit of iron and manganese are associated with B.H.J and shales respectively. The undulating hilly slope is prone to soil erosion. Therefore the OMC Ltd. is planning to carry out investigation, survey, reconnaissance and drilling for sub- surface mineral potential in this lease. The details of activities proposed to be undertaken in forest land is given at Para-5 Page-7 of Part-I of the proposal. This includes drilling of 83 no. of boreholes of 4” dia each with a distance of 100mts between two boreholes. GPS readings of all the proposed boreholes are attached to the proposal. Each borehole is proposed to be drilled up to a depth of 100 mt. In order to facilitate movement of machinery and equipment for the purpose of prospecting, it has been proposed to construct a road of 5920mts. length and 5 mts width covering an area of 2.96ha. 15 personnel are to be deployed for the purpose of prospecting and prospecting activities will be confined between 6AM to 6PM. The applicant has applied for a time period of 5 years for the purpose of prospecting. As per intimation in Form- C of the proposal, area of forest land likely to experience temporary change in land use is mentioned as 4.62ha. within the ML area. which includes 83 no. of boreholes of 4”diameter up to a maximum depth of 100mts @
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0.02ha. of forest for each of the borehole(total 1.66ha.) and an area of 2.96ha. of forest land is likely to experience temporary change for the purpose of construction of a road for mobility of drilling equipment. The proposed prospecting site does not involve any felling of trees.All the 83 no. of boreholes are proposed to be drilled within the undiverted forest land of 96.027ha within the ML area.
The DFO, Keonjhar has reported that the proposed Mining lease area does not form part of any National park/Wildlife sanctuary/Biosphere Reserve. Also no National Park, Wildlife Sanctuary, Bio-sphere reserve, tiger reserve, Wildlife migration corridor is located within 10 km/1 Km from the boundary of the forest land proposed to be utilized for prospecting. No rare and endangered or unique species of flora and fauna are found in the area. Further no protected archaeological or heritage site or defence establishment or any important monument are found over the area. It has been reported that the site falls in elephant habitat zone-2 as per report of ORSAC, Bhubaneswar. Movement of wild elephants is often noticed. This project does not involve displacement of human habitation. The PCCF, Odisha/RCCF, Rourkela/DFO, Keonjhar have recommended for use of forest land for the purpose of prospecting of iron and manganese ore. Total cost of the project is Rs. 637.49 lakhs.
Forest Land
OMC Ltd. proposes to carry out investigation, survey, reconnaissance and drilling for sub- surface mineral potential in this lease without felling of trees. The site proposed for drilling is located in their Roida-C Iron and Manganese Mining lease located in Keonjhar Forest Division of Keonjhar district, Odisha. As reported by DFO, Keonjhar the prospecting area is located within Sidhamath RF. The details of activities proposed includes drilling of 83 no. of boreholes of 4” dia each on forest land with a distance of 100mts between two boreholes. Each borehole is proposed to be drilled up to a depth of 100 mt. In order to facilitate movement of machinery and equipment for the purpose of prospecting, it has been proposed to construct a road of 5920 mt. length and 5 mts width covering an area of 2.96 ha. Thus an area of 4.62 ha.of forest land is proposed to be used for the purpose of prospecting within ML area of 192.81 ha, which is entirely located in Sidhamath Reserved Forest.
Tree Enumeration: The average density of vegetation in the area has been estimated to be 0.6. As per tree enumeration report provided by the Divisional Forest Officer, 72 no. of sound trees and 75 no. of unsound trees of above 30 cm girth and 4559 no. of poles below 30 cm girth have been enumeration over 4.62ha. of forest area used for prospecting purpose. However, for the purpose of prospecting felling of trees is not involved.
Compensatory Afforestation:No compensatory afforestation is required for the purpose of forest land to be used for exploratory drilling as per provisions of guidelines of MoEF&CC, Government of India vide F.No. 11- 96/2009-FC dt. 4.7.2014. However as has been insisted by MoEF&CC in other prospecting proposals, PCCF, Odisha was requested to formulate a CA scheme for 2.96ha. of forest land being proposed to be used for the purpose of construction of road in this project. Accordingly, 2.96 ha.of non-forest land suitable for plantation has been identified in village Siletof Thuamul Rampur Tehsil of Kalahandi district. A site specific CA scheme in Bald hill plantation mode with 1600 plants per ha. including cost of maintenance of 10 years as per current wage rate of Rs. 200/- per manday has been prepared by DFO, Kalahandi(South) Division which has been technically approved by Addl. PCCF(Forest Diversion) & Nodal Officer, FC Act for an total financial outlay of Rs. 13,11,800/-. The CA scheme has provision for planting species like Neem, Karanja, Amla, Harida, Bahada, Sissoo, Gambhari, Chakunda, Tentuli, Mahul, Teak, Mango, Arjuna etc. GPS readings of identified non-forest land for CA, SoItopomap indicating the CA land are attached to the CA scheme. A copy of the approved CA scheme is also attached to the proposal. The CA scheme shall be implemented departmentally at project cost.
Environmental Clearance: Mineral prospecting is exempted from having environmental clearance. As ascertained from the instant application, MoEF&CC, GoI vide their letter No.J-11015/106/2006-IA.II(M) dt. 20.11.2006 have accorded environmental clearance for Iron and Manganese ore mining project of M/s IDCOL
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for annual production capacity of 4,60,000 tonnes of iron ore and 7000 tonnes of Manganese ore by Opencast semi-mechanised method involving ML area of 192.81ha. SPCB, Odisha had granted Consent to Operate(CTO) in favour of Roida-C Iron and Manganese mines of OMC Ltd(Operated by IDCOL) vide their order dt.18.3.2016, which was valid till 31.3.2017.
Cost Benefit Analysis: Since it is not case of diversion, Cost: Benefit Analysis for this exploration project is not required.
Rehabilitation and Resettlement : This exploration Project does not involve displacement of human habitation.
Violation: No violation of Forest Conservation Act, 1980 has been reported by the Divisional Forest Officer, Keonjhar Forest Division.
4. Compliance of Govt. of India, MoEF circular on processing of the Forest diversion proposal as per provisions of the ST & Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006:As per provisions of Ministry’s guidelines bearing F. No. 11-96/2009-FC dt. 4.7.2014 prospecting is exempted from the requirement of submission of documentary evidence in support of settlement of rights in accordance with provisions of ST& OTFD (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 as stipulated in MoEF circular dt.3.8.2009.
5. Pr. CCF, Odisha has recommended this proposal.
6. State Government of Odisha further requested to examine the proposal and approved with the following conditions:
(i) User agency shall seek permission of DFO, Keonjhar Forest Division before entering into the forest area. (ii) Each bore-hole shall be dug with prior permission of the DFO, Keonjhar Forest Division. (iii) Proper plugging of boreholes shall be made after exploration activities are complete. (iv) No tree felling shall be undertaken for exploration activities. Project activities shall be restricted to clearing of bushes and lopping of tree branches if any for the purpose of site preparation. (v) Existing path and roads only will be used by the user agency for the purpose of prospecting activities in addition to 2.96ha. of forest land to be used for road purpose in the ML area. (vi) Drilling of boreholes will be limited to 83 no. with diameter of 4” within forest land. (vii) No labour camp shall be established on the forest land. (viii) No work shall be allowed after sunset. (ix) No other construction activities shall be done by the user agency on forest land. (x) User agency shall report the progress of drilling work to the DFO, Keonjhar and also furnish detailed report thereof on completion of the project. (xi) Adequate measures shall be taken by the user agency to ensure that prospecting activities do not harm the wildlife in the area. Any damage done in this context, shall be compensated by the user agency as per assessment, by the DFO, Keonjhar. (xii) The user agency shall be responsible for any loss to the flora and fauna in the surrounding. Any damage done in this regard shall be compensated by the user agency from the project cost as per assessment of the DFO, Keonjhar. (xiii) Instant permission of Govt. of India for prospecting in forest area, if accorded, would not confer any rights on the user agency to obtain diversion of forest land for mining of chromite from this area in future. (xiv) In case, rights over forest land proposed to be used for prospecting purpose, has already been settled in favour of eligible claimants as per provisions of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, the claimants shall either be compensated appropriately or location of boreholes be suitably re-located. (xv) DFO, Keonjhar Forest Division may impose any other condition for protection and conservation of the flora and fauna in the forest area. (xvi) CA scheme shall be implemented departmentally at project cost.
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The facts related to the above proposal may be placed before FAC in its meeting to be held on 16.11.2017 for their examination and appropriate recommendation and NIC may be requested to change the pendency of this proposal from RO to HO (FC Division, MoEF&CC) for further processing, as per DFA pl.
****
Agenda No. 4 File No. 8-82/2014-FC Sub: Proposal for diversion of 1038.187 ha of Revenue and DLC forest land including 4.051 ha under safety zone within the leasehold area of 1914.063 ha of allocated for Open Cast Coal Project (OCP) by M/s MNH Shakti Ltd. (Talabira II and III OCP) in Jharsuguda and Sambalpur Forest Divisions within the jurisdiction of Jharsuguda district and Sambalpur district of Odisha earlier submitted to MoEF&CC, GoI: Subsequent Re-allotment of Talabira II and III OCP coal block in favour of M/s Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC India Limited following cancellation of allotment the said coal blocks to the prior allotteei.e M/s MNH Shakti Ltd. As per Supreme Court’s order.
1. Government of Odisha vide their letter dated 5th May 2014 had submitted a proposal to obtain prior approval of the Central Government, in terms of the Section-2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 for diversion of 1,038.187 hectares of Revenue and DLC forest land including 4.051 hectares under safety zone within the lease hold area of 1914.063 hectares allocated for opencast coal project (OCP) in favour of M/s. MNH Shakti Ltd. (Talabira II and III OCP) in Jharsuguda and Sambalpur Forest Division within the jurisdiction of Jharsuguda district and Sambalpur district of Odisha.
2. Details indicated in the above stated proposal as submitted by the Government of Odisha in favour of M/s. MNH Shakti Ltd. are as below:
FACT SHEET
1. Name of the Proposal Diversion of 1,038.187 hectares of Revenue and DLC forest land including 4.051 hectares under safety zone within the lease hold area of 1914.063 hectares allocated for opencast coal project (OCP) by M/s. MNH Shakti Ltd. (Talabira II and III OCP) in Jharsuguda and Sambalpur Forest Division within the jurisdiction of Jharsuguda district and Sambalpur district of Odisha. 2 Location: State Odisha. District Jharsuguda and Sambalpur 3. Particular of Forests i Name of Forest Division Jharsuguda and Sambalpur Forest Divisions ii Area of Forest land for Diversion 845.561 hectares (Jharsuguda) + 192.626 hectares (Sambalpur) = 1038.187 hectares iii Legal Status of Forest land Jharsuguda Forest Division Revenue Forests: 385.379 hectares DLC forests: 460.182 hectares Sambalpur Forest Division Revenue Forests: 192.626 hectares Total: 1,038.187 hectares iv Density of Vegetation 0.30
36 | P a g e v Species-wise and diameter class 1,10,110 trees of different species are available in wise enumeration of trees Jharsuguda Forest Division. 20,611 trees of different species are available in Sambalpur Forest Division.
4. Vulnerability of area to erosion Not susceptible to erosion as terrain is fairly flat in Jharsuguda and Sambalpur Divisions. 5 Approximate distance of Adjoining the Talabira OCP, the following forests proposed site for diversion from are available: boundary of forest Malda DPF: 3 Kms. 6. Whether forms part of National Does not form any part of corridor of elephants, Park, Wildlife Sanctuary, wildlife sanctuary or national park, nor any biosphere Biosphere Reserve, Tiger reserve or tiger reserve in Sambalpur and Jharsuguda Reserve, Elephant Corridor etc. Forest Division. (if so, the details of the area the comments of the Chief Wildlife Warden to be annexed) 7. Whether any rare/ endangered/ No rare/ endangered/ unique species of flora and unique species of flora and fauna fauna found in the area. found in the area if so, details thereof 8. Whether any protected No. The area is not significant from archaeological archaeological/ heritage site/ point of view. defence establishment or any other important monument is located in the area. If so, the details thereof with NOC from competent authority, if required 9. Whether the requirement of Yes. The area is coal bearing and therefore, is forest land as proposed by the unavoidable. User Agency in col.2 of Part-I is unavoidable and bare minimum for the project. If no, recommended area item-wise with details of alternatives examined 10. Whether any work in violation of No violation reported. the Act has been carried out (Yes/ No). If yes, details of the same including period of work done, action taken on erring officials. Whether work in violation is still under progress 11. Details of Compensatory Ministry of Coal, Govt. of India vide their letter no Afforestation Scheme: 13016/69/2004-CA-I (pt) CA-II dated 14th June 2013 have certified that M/s MNH SHAKTI LIMITED "is a Government Company in terms of Section 617 of the Companies Act 1956 and is a Central PSU/Central Govt. Undertaking, also subsidiary Company of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd." Therefore as per para 3.2(vii) of guidelines under Forest Conservation Act, 1980, degraded forest land twice in extent i.e. 1692.0 ha has been identified in Bikramkhol PRF (1558.0 ha) and Amkhaman- Sagarpali RF (134.0 ha) under Lakhanpur Tahasil in
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Jharsuguda district in lieu of 845.561ha. of forest land proposed for diversion for this coal mining project in Jharsuguda district. The Divisional Forest Officer, Jharsuguda has furnished land suitability and non encroachment certificate pertaining to identified degraded forest land for raising compensatory afforestation. The relevant field note is at page 365-367/DP. The Divisional Forest Officer, Jharsuguda has prepared a site specific compensatory afforestation scheme in ANR plantation model for identified degraded forest land under his jurisdiction with a financial outlay. of Rs.10,16,55,850/- including the cost of maintenance of Compensatory afforestation of 10 years as per Government of India, MoEF Guidelines F.No. 11- 168/2009-FC (Pt) dt. 14.2.2012 as per latest wage rate of Rs. 150/- per day. Besides plantation, the scheme has provisions for trench fencing and soil conservation measures. The species selected for plantation under the scheme are Teak, Bahada, Sisoo, Neem, Gambhar, Amla, Bel, Karanja etc. This scheme has got technical approval of Addl. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Forest Diversion)&Nodal Officer, FC Act. The User Agency has furnished an undertaking to bear the cost of the Compensatory Afforestation Scheme which is enclosed. Similarly, as para 3.2(vii) of guidelines under Forest Conservation Act, 1980, degraded forest land twice in extent i.e. 400 ha ha has been identified in Jhargati Garpati RF under Sambalpur district as against requirement of 386ha, in lieu of 192.628ha. of forest land proposed for diversion for this coal mining project in Sambalpur district. The Divisional Forest Officer, Sambalpur has furnished land suitability and non-encroachment certificate pertaining to identified degraded forest land for raising compensatory afforestation. The Divisional Forest Officer, Sambalpur has prepared a site specific compensatory afforestation scheme where he has proposed for undertaking silvicultural treatment of the degraded forest land for improving the crop over an area of 336ha. Besides, 50 ha. of identified degraded forest land shall be covered under Block Plantation Model. Total financial outlay for this CA scheme is estimated at Rs. 2,29,48,855 including the cost of maintenance as per latest wage rate of Rs. 150/- per day. The scheme has been technically approved by APCCF (Nodal). Besides plantation, the scheme has provisions for trench fencing and protection measures. The User Agency has furnished an undertaking to bear the cost of the Compensatory Afforestation Scheme which is enclosed 12. Recommendation DFO Recommended Regional CCF Recommended
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PCCF Recommended State Govt. Recommended
3. Government of Odisha in their said letter dated 5th May 2014 was also submitted the following additional information: (i) Ministry of Coal, Govt. of India, New Delhi vide No 13016/69/2004-CA-l dated 10th November 2005 have allocated Talabira II and Talabira III Coal Blocks in the MCL area, over 383.893 ha and 1530.170 ha respectively (total 1914.063 ha)jointly to Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL), M/s Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) and M/s Hindalco Industries Ltd (HIL) for mining of Coal as one mine to ensure conservation of coal and deployment of optimum technology.
(ii) It has been reported by the Pr. CCF, Odisha that as per the condition no (iii) of the allocation letter of Ministry of Coal, GoI, a Joint Venture Company (JVC) namely M/s MNH Shakti Ltd., has been formed between Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. on one part and M/s Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd., and M/s Hindalco Industries Ltd., on the other. The JVC in the name and style of MIs MNH SHAKTI LIMITED, has been incorporated under Companies Act 1956" (No.1 of 1956) on 16.7.2008 with corporate identity Number: 10100OR2008G01010171.
(iii) Further, as per the condition (iv) of the allocation order of GoI, MCL would have an equity holding of 70% whereas the balance 30% equity shall be equally held by M/s Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd., and M/s. Hindalco Industries Ltd. Le., 15% each in the JVC. 70% of annual coal production shall be handed over to MCL by the Joint Venture Company to dispose the same as it chooses. The balance 30% of the annual production shall be handed over to M/s Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd., and M/s Hindalco Industries Ltd. equally i.e., 15% each for captive consumption in their end use Plants in Odisha.
(iv) The area under Talabira II and Talabira III Coal Blocks has been acquired under Coal Bearing Area (Acquisition & Development) Act, 1957. In the Gazette Notification of GoI Ministry of Coal, bearing SO No.1108, dt.26.03.2005, 1530.170 ha has been notified for acquisition located in Rampur, Dumermunda, MaIda and Patrapali villages under Jharsuguda Tahasil in Jharsuguda District. Similarly, vide S.O No.2414, dt.28.08.2009 of Ministry of Coal, Government of India, an area spread over 383.893 ha has been notified for acquisition consisting of Talabira and Khinda villages under Rengali Tahasil in Sambalpur district. The total area of these two blocks is 1914.063 ha. consisting of 1038.187 ha of Revenue and DLC forest land and 875.876 ha is of non-forest land. Out of 1038.l87 ha, 845.561 ha of forest land is in Jharsuguda Forest Division and 192.626 ha of forest land in Sambalpur Forest Division. While 845.561 ha. of forest land in Jharsuguda district is comprised of 385.379ha. of Revenue forest and 460. 182ha. of DLC land, 194.626ha. of forest land in Sambalpur division is comprised of Revenue Forest only. The village wise abstract of land required for the Talabira III project in Jharsuguda district is enclosed. Detailed village land schedule of the Talabira III including forest land in Jharsuguda district is also enclosed.
(v) The coal block area is located in Survey of India Topo Sheet No.64 O/13 and O/14. The lease area is bounded by latitude 21 °44'37" to 21 °47'29" North and longitude 83°56'45" to 83°59'00" East.
(vi) The JVC i.e. M/s MNH Shakti Ltd. have approached the Water Resources Department, Government of Odisha for allocation of water to meet the potable and industrial demand of Talabira OCP vide their letter dt. 11.3.2013. Similarly, the JVC have taken steps for receiving power from the GRIDCO for this coal project. The Ministry of Coal, Government of India vide their letter No. 34012/(4)/2011.CPAM dt. 11.1.2012 have approved the revised Mining Plan for this coal mining project. There is an estimated 553.98 Million tones of coal reserve. Considering annual production
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of 20 Million tonnes, the life of mines would be around 34 years including 2 years for construction period.
(vii) The proposed lease area does not fall within any National park/ Wildlife sanctuary/ Biosphere Reserve/ Elephant Corridor/Tiger Reserve. No archaeological monument or protected defence establishment is located inside the applied area. No rare, endangered and unique species of flora and fauna are found in the area. The applied area is about 3KM from Malda DPF and 18 Km from Rajpur Reserved Forests. The total cost of the project is Rs.447.80 Crores. This project will generate employment opportunity for 427 persons daily and around 10,000 persons will be benefitted directly and indirectly in course of execution of the project.
(viii) The project involves 1894 no. of Project displaced families including 443 no. of SC families and 575 no. of ST families. R&R Plan prepared concerning this project is enclosed. (ix) Out of total area of 1914.063 ha, 845.561 ha of forest land is in Jharsuguda Forest Division and 192.626 ha of forest land in Sambalpur Forest Division. While 845.561ha. of forest land in Jharsuguda division is comprised of 385.379 ha. of Revenue forest and 460.1 82ha. of DLC land, 192.626ha. of forest land in Sambalpur division is comprised of Revenue Forest only. In all 1038.187ha. of forests land is involved in these two coal blocks that also includes 4.051ha. of forest land in the safety zone within total safety zone of 19.841ha. The purpose wise break up of total land i.e. forest land, non-forest land required for the project is as follows:
Sl. No. Activities in the mining Forest land (in ha) Non forest Grand area land (in Total Revenue DLC Total ha) (Area in Forest Forest forest Ha) land land land 1. Mine Excavation 382.768 290.442 673.210 299.310 972.520 SUBTOTAL 382.768 290.442 673.210 299.310 972.520 2 Inside BlastingDanger A Infrastructure (road, mine, office, conveyor 8.236 4.634 12.870 17.860 30.73 etc.) B External dump 3.760 1.800 5.560 137.160 142.720 C Embankment 0.000 6.280 6.280 D Area to be developed as 144.864 64.119 208.983 107.008 315.991 green belt SUBTOTAL 156.860 70.553 227.413 268.308 495.721 3 Outside Blasting Danger
Zone A Infrastructure (road, conveyor, railway, & silo, washery, office, 13.392 1.218 14.610 226.620 241.230 workshop & other utilities etc.) B Embankment 1.020 1.020 27.890 28.910 C Other area to be developed as green belt 22.114 95.769 117.883 37.958 155.841 Other area to be developed as green belt 22.114 95.769 117.883 37.958 155.841 SUBTOTAL 36.526 96.987 133.513 292.468 425.981
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D 7.5m Safety zone inside lease boundary 1.851 2.200 4.051 15.790 19.841
SUBTOTAL 1.851 2.200 4.051 15.790 19.811 Grand total 578.005 460.182 1038.187 875.876 1914.063
(x) Plant species which are commonly noticed in the proposed area are Sal (Shorea robusta), Mahul (Madhuca indica), Asan (Terminalia tomentosa), Dhaura (Anogeissus latifolia), Jamun (Syzyzium cumini), Mango (Mangifera indica), Char (Buchanania lanzan), etc. The faunal species noticed in the area are Snake, Squirrel, Jackal, Mangoose etc. No rare or endangered flora or fauna is noticed in the area as per the inspection report furnished by Divisional Forest officers. However as reported by Pro CCF, Odisha, area is highly prone to Elephant movements and a lot of crop raids and elephant depredation is observed in that area.
(xi) Though the area does not form part of any National Park/Wildlife Sanctuary/Elephant Corridor, due care is to be taken for conservation of Wildlife available in the area. For this purpose, the User Agency is required to pay @ Rs,43,000/- per hectare of leasehold area as per revised norm towards their contribution for implementing Wildlife Management Plan in the applied area if the said area is rich in wildlife. Besides this, the Site Specific Conservation Plan for this project is to be implemented in the leasehold as well as surrounding area at project cost. The user agency has also furnished an undertaking to bear the cost for implementing the Wildlife Conservation Plan.
(xii) The total forest land involved in the project is 1038.1 87ha. Since the area proposed for diversion exceeds 10.0 ha., according to para -2.2 (ii) the guideline to Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, sample enumeration over 43 sample plots of 2.0 ha. each located in the applied forest land has been carried out in forest area of the block in Jharsuguda division. As such in all, 11199 no. of trees of girth 30 cm and above have been enumerated over 86ha. of forest land. By extrapolating the figures over the entire forest land of 845.561 ha., 1,10,110 no. of trees have been estimated in the forest proposed for diversion. Similarly, sample enumeration over 40 sample plots of 1.0 ha. each located in the applied forest land has been carried out in forest area of the block in Sambalpur division. By extrapolating the figures over the entire forest land 192.628 ha., 20,611 no. of trees have been estimated in the forest land proposed for diversion.
(xiii) As indicated by the Divisional Forest Officer, Jharsuguda division at page 287-289/DP, the total benefit of this proposal comes to RS.1849.38 crores. The loss on forests including environmental loss, N.P.V cost and other mandatory payments comes to RS.208.69 crores. Hence, the cost benefit ratio comes to 1:9. Details of consolidated C: B Analysis for Jharsuguda and Sambalpur division has been countersigned by the DFO, Jharsuguda.
(xiv) An area of 19.841 ha. comprising of 4.051 ha. forest land (1.851ha. Revenue Forest + 2.2ha DLC land) and 15.79 ha. non-forest land has been earmarked to be maintained as Safety Zone of 7.5mts width all around the leasehold area. The User Agency has furnished an undertaking to bear the cost of maintenance of Safety Zone and cost of afforestation over 1.5 times Safety Zone area in degraded forest land elsewhere(Page-314/DP).
(xv) Expert Committee (Thermal and Coal Mining), Govt. of India in its meeting held on 9th May 2007 have prescribed the Terms of reference (TOR) for preparation of EIA and EMP study for the project, which has been communicated to the user agency vide letter No .11015/215/2007IA.II (M), dt,23.05.2007 of MoEF, GOI. .
(xvi) The phased reclamation plan and afforestation scheme has been furnished at Page-290303/DP. As indicated in the Plan, major part of the quarry will be back filled with overburden. The backfilling will be carried out in a phased manner. Plantation on internal dumping will start from 8th year of operation till 34th year and on external dump from 5th year to 16th year of operation. The user agency has furnished an undertaking for taking up phased reclamation activities.
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(xvii) The project involves 1894 no. of Project displaced families including 443 no. of SC families and 575 no. of ST families. R&R Plan prepared concerning this project is enclosed. The R&R Plan is required to be implemented with due approval of the RPDAC/State Government before commencement of project activities on final forest clearance.
(xviii) The Ministry of Coal, Government of India vide their letter No. 34012/(4)/2011.CPAM dt. 11.1.2012 have approved the revised Mining Plan and progressive mines closure plan for this coal mining project. There is an estimated 553.98 Million tones of coal reserve. Considering annual production of 20Million tonnes, the life of mines would be around 34 years. including 2 years for construction period.
(xix) As indicated III Part-III of the application form by the Divisional Forest Officer, Sambalpur and Jharsuguda forest division, in their site inspection reports and Site inspection report of RCCF, Sambalpur, no violation of Forests Conservation Act, 1980 has been committed so far in this project.
(xx) The user agency is required to deposit the cost of NPV for entire forest land of 1038.187ha. in this project. The User Agency has also furnished an undertaking to pay the NPV at revised rate. The Basic Information in respect of Jharsuguda Forest Division, Jharsuguda district, Sambalpur Forest Division, Sambalpur district and the State of Odisha duly signed by the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Forest Diversion)& Nodal Officer, FC Act are enclosed. The Site Inspection report of the Divisional Forest Officer, Jharsuguda, Divisional Forest Officer, Sambalpur and the Regional Chief Conservator of Forests, Sambalpur are enclosed.
(xxi) As per Govt. of India, MoEF circular vide F.No. 11-9/1998-FC(Pt.) dt. 3.8.2009 in the matter of ensuring compliance to the provisions of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 while processing a forest diversion proposal, the Collectors of Sambalpur and Jharsuguda districts have furnished the furnished the required compliance in the matter as indicated below.
(xxii) In the instant forest diversion proposal that involves 1038. 187ha. of forest land, the Collector, Sambalpur has furnished the following certificates/documents pertaining to the 192.626ha of forest land proposed for diversion for coal mining in Talabira village under Rengali tehsil within Talabira coal block in Sambalpur district: (a) Certificates duly signed by the Collector, Sambalpur for 192-626ha. (b) Resolution passed by the Palli sabhas of Talabira village in the meeting held on 12.7.2012 duly signed by the Members present in regional language (c) English version of the resolution of Palli sabha submitted by the Collector, Sambalpur (xxiii) Similarly, the Collector, Jharsuguda has furnished the following certificates/documents pertaining to the 845.56ha. of forest land for coal mining in Rampur, MaIda, Dumermunda and Patrapali villages of Jharsuguda tehsil of Jharsuguda district within Talabira coal block of Jharsuguda district
(a) Certificates duly signed by the Collector, Jharsuguda for 845.56ha.
(b) Resolution passed by the Palli sabhas of Rampur village in the meeting held on 2.12.2011, Malda village in the meeting held on 2.12.2011, Patrapali village in the meeting held on 6.6.2012, Dumermunda village in the meeting held on 2.12.2011 duly signed by the Members present in regional language
(c) English version of the resolutions of Palli sabha submitted by the Collector, Jharsuguda
(xxiv) Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India in their letter F. No. 11-9/98 dated 8.7.2011 have issued guidelines that all applications seeking prior approval of the Central Government under Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 for diversion of forest land for non-forest purpose must be accompanied with Geo-referenced boundary in shape file pertaining to forest land proposed for diversion. These documents/Maps are required to ensure accurate delineation of the
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forest area to be diverted. The user agency in compliance to this order, has submitted the required digital map duly authenticated by ORSAC and Divisional Forest officer, Jharsuguda Forest Division which is enclosed DP along with the shape file. The soft copy of geo referenced map in CD form is also enclosed for reference.
(xxv) It is further stated the project activities requires more than 500 ha. of forest land. Therefore the user agency is required to carry out the following activities as per requirement of Government of India, MoEF guidelines in their circular F.No. 11-9/1998-FC dtd 4.1.2011 of GoI, MoEF: (a) To establish & operate a Vocational Training Institute having capacity to impart training in at least 5 disciplines to be decided by the State Govt. concerned in consultation with the User agency for the benefit of the eligible unemployed youth in the Project after village.
(b) To set up an independent Social Welfare Department Division and follow the subsequent conditions of the Project affected in such a way as to understand their socio-economic conditions before and after the project and take such corrective measures as are necessary to restore them to their original or better then original condition
4. Government of Odisha in their said letter dated 5th May 2014 finally requested that Government of India, Ministry of Environment, may kindly examine this proposal for diversion of 1038.187 ha of Revenue and DLC forest land including 4.051 ha under safety zone within the leasehold area of 1914.063 ha of allocated for Open Cast Coal Project (OCP) by M/s MNH Shakti Ltd. (Talabira II and III OCP) in Jharsuguda and Sambalpur Forest Divisions within the jurisdiction of Jharsuguda district and Sambalpur district of Odisha and convey their approval under Section-2 of Forest (Conservation) Act,1980 in favour of the User Agency to this department subject to the following stipulation:
(a) The User Agency shall pay the proportionate cost of implementation of Regional Wildlife Management Plan at revised cost. (b) The forest land earmarked in the safety zone is to be maintained strictly and in no circumstances, it shall be used for mining and other allied activities. (c) The user agency shall pay towards the cost of site specific conservation plan approved by the CWL W, Odisha for its implementation in leasehold as well as surrounding area. (d) The user agency shall undertake demarcation of the lease area on the ground by posting four feet high cement concrete pillars embedded two feet inside the soil with serial number, forward and backward bearings, and distance from pillar to pillar. The user agency shall also submit the map of lease area showing different kinds of forest land using DGPS survey data~ and latitude and longitude of each pillar to the Divisional Forest Officer, Jharsuguda and Sambalpur Forest Divisions for their reference before commencement of work on final forest clearance. (e) Felling of trees in the applied area shall be taken up in phased manner strictly as per requirement prescribed in the approved Mining with prior permission of the Divisional Forest Officer, Sambalpur and Jharsuguda. (f) User agency shall pay the royalty of numbers of enumerated trees before commencement of work on final forest clearance. (g) The user agency shall obtain environmental clearance of MoEF and Consent to establish/Operate from the SPCB, Odisha for the project. (h) Duly approved R&R Plan shall be executed at project cost before the Mines is operated on having final forest clearance. (i) The user agency shall provide the DGPSIETS map of Coal Block area as per provisions of the Steel & Mines Department Officer order No. 4132/SM dt. 8.5.2013. (j) The user agency shall establish & operate a Vocational Training Institute having capacity to impart training in at least 5 disciplines to be decided by the State Govt. for the benefit of the eligible unemployed youth in the Project affected village. (k) The user agency shall set up an independent Social Welfare Department Division and follow the subsequent conditions of the Project affected in such a way as to understand their socio-economic conditions before and after the project and take such corrective measures as are necessary to restore them to their original or better then original condition. (l) Memorandum of Association, Articles of Association of the Joint Venture Company shall be
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furnished. (m) Applicant Company shall furnish the copy of Mining lease application filed with the State Government. (n) Detailed R&R Plan shall be furnished by the user agency. (o) Copy of Public hearing for environmental clearance for the project, Consent to Establish granted by SPCB, Odisha shall be furnished.
5. The forest land proposed to be diverted has been inspected by the Regional Office (Eastern Zone), Bhubaneswar. Additional information provided in the site inspection report received from the Regional Office (Eastern Zone), Bhubaneswar vide their letter dated 25th July 2014 are as below:
(i) As reported by Divisional Forest Officer, Jharsuguda Forest Division, the legal status of the forest land is as follows: Name of the Division Status of forest land Area in ha. Jharsuguda Rev. forests 385.379 DLC forests 460.182 Sambalpur Rev. forests 192.626 Total 1038.187
(ii) As reported by the State Govt., the total cost of the project is Rs. 447.80 Crores.
(iii) As reported by the State Government, the faunal species noticed in the area are Snake, Squirrel, Jackal, Mongoose etc.
(iv) Though the area does not form part of any National Park/Wildlife Sanctuary/Elephant Corridor, due care is to be taken for conservation of Wildlife available in the area. For this purpose, the User Agency is required to pay @ Rs. 43,000/- per hectare of leasehold area as per revised norm towards their contribution for implementing Wildlife Management Plan in the applied area if the said area is rich in wildlife. Besides this, the Site Specific Conservation Plan for this project is to be implemented in the leasehold as well as surrounding area at project cost.
(v) As reported by DFO, Jharsuguda Forest Division, the density of vegetation is 0.3.
(vi) The total forest land involved in the project is 1038.187 ha. Since the area proposed for diversion exceeds 10.0 ha., according to para -2.2 (ii) of the guideline to Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, sample enumeration over 43 sample plots of 2.0 ha each located in the applied forest land has been carried out in forest area of the block in Jharsuguda division. As such in all, 11199 no. of trees of girth 30 cm and above have been enumerated over 86 ha of forest land. By extrapolating the figures over the entire forest land of 845.561 ha, 1,10,110 no. of trees have been estimated in the forest proposed for diversion. Similarly, sample enumeration over 40 sample plots of 1.0 ha each located in the applied forest land has been carried out in forest area of the block in Sambalpur division. By extrapolating the figures over the entire forest land of 192.628 ha, 20,611 no. of trees have been estimated in the forest land proposed for diversion.
(vii) As there are large numbers of trees to be felled, it will naturally adversely affect the general eco- system in the area.
(viii) As reported by the State Government, plant species which are commonly noticed in the proposed area are Sal (Shorea robusta), Mahul (Madhuca indica), Asan (Terminalia tomentosa), Dhaura (Anogeissus latifolia), Jamun (Syzygium cumini Mango (Mangifera indica), Char (Buchanania lanzan) etc.
(ix) Number of trees of girth below 60 cm are as below: (a) Sambalpur division: 6742 (b) Jharsuguda division: 76248
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(x) Number of trees of girth above 60 cm are as below: (a) Sambalpur division: 13869 (b) Jharsuguda division: 33862
(xi) As reported by the State Government, Ministry of Coal, Govt. of India, New Delhi vide No. 13016/69/2004-CA-1, dated 10th November 2005 have allocated Talabira-II and Talabira-III Coal Blocks in the MCL area, over 383.893 ha and 1530.170 ha respectively (total 1914.063 ha), jointly to Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL), M/s Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) and M/s Hindalco Industries Ltd. (HIL) for mining of Coal as one mine to ensure conservation of coal and development of optimum technology. It has been reported by the PCCF, Odisha that as per the condition no. (iii) of the allocation letter of Ministry of Coal, Govt. of India a Joint Venture Company (JVC) namely M/s MNH Shakti Ltd., has been formed between Mahanadi Coalfield Ltd. on one part and M/s Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd. and M/s Hindalco Industries Ltd., on the other.
(xii) Further, per condition (iv) of the allocation order of GoI, MCL would have and equity holding of 70% whereas the balance 30% equity shall be equally held by M/s Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd. and M/s Hindalco Industries Ltd. i.e. 15% each in the JVC. 70% of annual coal production shall be handed over to MCL by the Joint Venture Company to dispose the same as it chooses. The balance 30% of the annual production shall be handed over to M/s Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd., and M/s Hindalco Industries Ltd. equally i.e., 15% each for captive consumption in their end use Plants in Odisha.
(xiii) The area under Talabira –II and Talabira –III Coal Blocks has been acquired under Coal Bearing Area (Acquisition & Development) Act, 1957, in the Gazzette Notification of GoI, Ministry of Coal, bearing SO No. 1108, dt. 26.03.2005, 1530.170 ha has been notified for acquisition located in Rampur, Dumermunda, Malda and Patrapali villages under Jharsuguda Tahasil in Jharsuguda District. Similarly, vide S.O. No. 2414; dt 28.08.2009 of Ministry of Coal Government of India, and area spread over 383.893 ha has been notified for acquisition consisting of Talabira and Khinda villages under Rengali Tahasil in Sampbalpur district. The total area of these two blocks is 1914.063 ha consisting of 1038.187 ha of Revenue and DLC forest land and 875.876ha is of non-forest land . Out of 1038.187 ha of forest land is in Jharsuguda Forest Division and 192.626 ha of forest land in Sambalpur Forest division. While 845.561 ha of forest land in Jharsuguda district is comprised of 385.379 ha of Revenue forest and 460.182 ha of DLC land; 192.626 ha of forest land in Sambalpur division is comprised of Revenue Forest only. The Divisional Forest Officer, Jharsuguda and Sambalpur division on Part-II of the application form have indicated that forest area proposed for diversion for the project is unavoidable as these are within the coal bearing area.
(xiv) The JVC i.e M/s MNH Shakti Ltd. have approached the Water Resources Department, Government of Odisha for allocation of water to meet the potable and industrial demand of Talabira OCP vide their letter dt. 11.03.2013. Similarly the JVC have taken steps for receiving power from the GRIDCO for this coal project. The Ministry of Coal, Government of India vide their letter No. 34012/(4)/2011.CPAM, dt. 11.01.2012 have approved the revised Mining Plan for this coal mining project. There is an estimated 553.98 Million tons of coal reserve. Considering annual production of 20 Million tones, the life of mines would be around 34 years including 2 years for construction period.
(xv) The D.F.O., Jharsuguda Forest Division has certified that the land identified for C.A. is suitable for plantation from management point of view.
(xvi) The Divisional Forest Officer, Sambalpur South Division has certified that the land selected for the purpose of C.A. is suitable for plantation from management point of view.
(xvii) The Divisional Forest Officer, Jharsuguda Forest Division has certified that the land identified for C.A. is free from all sorts of encumbrances and encroachment.
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(xviii) The Divisional Forest Officer, Sambalpur South Division has certified that the land selected for the purpose of C.A. is free from all sorts of encumbrances and encroachment
(xix) Land identified for compensatory afforestation is not reported to be important from Religious/Archaeological point of view.
(xx) The land identified for C.A. is in three patches and all the three patches are compact.
(xxi) Divisional Forest Officer, Jharsuguda has prepared a site specific compensatory afforestation scheme in ANR plantation model for identified degraded forest land under his jurisdiction with a financial outlay of Rs. 10, 16, 55,850/- including the cost of maintenance of Compensatory afforestation of 10 years as per Govt. of India, MoEF Guidelines F. No. 11-168/2009-FC(Pt.), dated 14.02.2012 as per latest wage rate of Rs. 150/- per day.
(xxii) The Divisional Forest Officer, Sambalpur has prepared a site specific compensatory afforestation scheme where he has proposed for undertaking silvicultural treatment of the degraded forest land for improving the crop over an area of 336 ha. Besides, 50 ha of identified degraded forest land shall be covered under Block plantation model. Total financial outlay for this CA scheme is estimated at Rs. 2, 29, 48,855/-including the cost of maintenance as per latest wage rate of Rs. 150/- per day.
(xxiii) As reported by the State Government, the project involves 1894 no. of Project displaced families including 443 no. of SC families and 575 no. of ST families. R&R Plan has been prepared concerning this project and the plan is required to be implemented with due approval of the RPDAC/State Government before commencement of project activities on final forest clearance.
(xxiv) The phased reclamation plan and afforestation scheme has been furnished. As indicated in the Plan, major part of the quarry will be back filled with overburden. The backfilling will be carried out in a phased manner. Plantation on internal dumping will start from 8th year of operation till 34th year and on external dump from 5th year to 16th year of operation.
(xxv) The mining project is site specific; hence alternative alignment is not possible.
(xxvi) As reported by the State Government, this project will generate employment opportunity for 427 persons daily and around 10,000 persons will be benefitted directly and indirectly in course of execution of the project.
(xxvii) The land being diverted is not reported to have any socio-cultural/ religious value:.
(xxviii) Sacred grove or very old growth trees/forests is not reported to exist in the areas proposed for diversion:
(xxix) No rare or endangered flora or fauna is noticed in the area as per the inspection reports furnished by Divisional Forest officers. However, the PCCF, Odisha while recommending the proposal has stated that the area is highly prone to crop raiding and depredation by wild Elephants and other wild animals.
(xxx) The nearest protected area Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary is more than 40 km from the project site.
(xxxi) DGPS maps 85 Topo-sheets are enclosed as Annexures - I, I (A) & II, II (A) respectively. However, DGPS survey has been done for the entire lease boundary without segregation between the two divisions. The User agency was advised to complete the DGPS boundary separately prior to Stage-II approval.
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(xxxii) Ib river is flowing at a distance of about 500m from the mining boundary and adjacent to the lease boundary. The other river which is flowing near the lease boundary is Bheden River. The User agency has assured that an embankment will be constructed along the Bheden River. The water from Ib river will be used for mining operation. Therefore, the User agency was instructed to ensure that the quality of both the rivers should not deteriorate during the mining operation.
(xxxiii) Habitation in Malda village will be relocated to Hirma, which is situated on the other side of the river Bheden. The User agency has informed that a bridge will be constructed on the river later on.
(xxxiv) The User agency has reported that the production will be started after two years. A silo will be set up in northwest direction of Talabira-II within 5 years. Hence, transportation will be carried out by truck for 3 years, after the production starts. Once silo is constructed, the transportation will be done from the pit head to the Silo which will act as a siding, through the Belt conveyor from which the materials will be sent through rail to destinations.
(xxxv) Hirakud reservoir is at a minimum distance of 150m from the lease boundary. However, the mining operation will be carried out at a larger distance.
(xxxvi) A green belt will be created all along the mining lease boundary, except at the eastern boundary where an external OB dump has been demarcated.
(xxxvii) Besides creating the green belt, the User agency has been advised to transplant trees of girth up to 30 cm from the forest land to any vacant land available in the lease area.
6. Specific observations of the Addl. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Central), Regional Office (Eastern Zone), Bhubaneswar on the proposal are as below: (i) Transplantation of trees up to 30 cm girth: Trees having girth up to 30 cm should not be felled as far as possible; rather they should be transplanted to nearby suitable places with utmost care under the supervision of State Forest Department. (ii) Transport system: The transport from the mine should be through closed conveyor system up to the railway siding as soon as the silo is set up and from there by train so that there is little disturbance on the road. Thus the ancillary problems like congestion, dust pollution, inconvenience to local population, etc. will be minimized. However, the trucks which may be used within the mines should be covered with tarpaulin. (iii) Water pollution & conservation: The major source of water pollution in the coal mines is the carryover of the suspended solids in the drainage system of the mine sump water, storm water drainage and waste water. Necessary measures should be taken to avoid water pollution caused due to all such possible sources. The user agency should take appropriate measures for creation of ponds, for rain water harvesting structures, so that more water can be stored around, which in turn will recharge the ground water. (iv) Reclamation: It is impossible to replenish the minerals once mined out, however; the user agency should reclaim the derelict land by establishing self-sustaining vegetation cover with pre- determined end use. A successful biological reclamation restores the natural capital of flora and fauna and productivity of land, which have been previously destroyed through mining. The user agency should prepare a long term plan so that after the end of mining lease, the reclaimed land may be put to optimum productivity which may include agriculture, horticulture, afforestation, pisciculture and ecotourism. (v) Top soil management: The user agency should k topsoil separate from overburden, and the sub soil to ensure that the materials are used in the same order as it was removed. Generally, the upper part of the soil that is the richest in organic matter is most valuable natural resource and ensure better growth of vegetation over dumps or for reclamation purpose. (vi) Environmental awareness programme: The user agency should arrange environmental awareness programme to create awareness among the employees as well as nearby people regarding better environmental management and its safeguards. There should be programs, weeks for the forests and wildlife, to be celebrated by the miners and other stakeholders, the wildlife
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lovers. Officials involved in the process should participate in such functions, and the idea of protection of precious natural resources like forest, wildlife, etc. should leave an indelible impact in the minds of the people so that people voluntarily and enthusiastically work for the protection and enrichment of the forests and wildlife of the region. (vii) CSR activities: The user agency should implement a corporate plan for the overall development of the people in the vicinity like providing quality education, skill development, creating employment opportunities & health care facilities. Sanitation aspect, literacy drive, etc. should also be taken care of by them. The CSR activities undertaken by the user agency for the development of people should be uploaded in the website of the company in details. (viii) Establishment of environmental laboratory: The user agency should establish a modernized environmental laboratory with adequate number of pollution monitoring and analysis equipment in consultation with the State Pollution Control Board for regular monitoring of the environmental status as well as taking remedial measures for maintaining better ecological balance.
7. The proposal along with the site inspection report received from the Regional Office, Bhubaneswar was placed before the Forest Advisory Committee in its meeting held on 22nd -23rd September, 2014. FAC after examination of proposal and interaction with representatives of user agency observed as below:
(i) Supreme Court in their Judgment dated 25th August 2014 in the Writ Petition (Civil) No. 120 of 2012 in the matter of Mohan Lal Sharma versus Union of India and others and such other similar petitions held that the allocations of 218 coal blocks made, both under the Screening Committee route and the Government dispensation route, are arbitrary and illegal;
(ii) Supreme Court in their said Judgment further observed that what should be the consequences, is the issue which remains to be tackled and directed that to this limited extent, the matter requires further hearing;
(iii) Accordingly, Supreme Court held further hearing on 9th September 2014 and reserved their Judgment. Final Judgment of the Supreme Court in the matter is likely to be pronounced shortly; and
(iv) Talabira –II and Talabira –III coal blocks, in which the forest land proposed to be diverted is located, are among the 218 coal blocks whose allocation has been declared arbitrary and illegal by the Supreme Court.
8. FAC after detailed deliberations decided to await final judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the said Writ Petitions before making recommendations on the proposal seeking prior approval of Central Government under the FC Act for diversion of the said forest land.
9. The Supreme Court in their order dated 25th August 2014 has cancelled allocation of 214 Coal Blocks, including the Talabira –II and Talabira –III coal Blocks dealt in this proposal.
10. Accordingly, Ministry vide its letter dated 18.11.2014 (Pg-579-580/c) has decided to close the said proposal in the Ministry.
11. Government of Odisha vide their letter No.10F(Cons)/72/2013/14211/F&E dated 06.07.2017 (Pg-581- 601/c) sought clarification regarding subsequent re-allotment of Talabira II and III OCP coal blocks in favour of M/s. Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) India Limited following cancellation of allotment the said coal blocks to the prior allottee i.e. M/s. MNH Shakti Ltd. as per Supreme Court’s order. The Ministry vide its letter dated 06.09.2017(Pg-605/c) clarified that that the Ministry has issued a guideline on 09.06.2015 for the cases on which in-principle approval were at processing stage in the State Government or the Central Government on day of allocations of these blocks were cancelled by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. As per the said guidelines these cases shall be process if they have been submitted by the respective new allocattees selected or to be elected by the Central Government in
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accordance with the provisions of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 and rules framed thereunder, once the following procedural formalities are completed: (i) Duly filled in part-I of the application in the format prescribed in Form-A appended to the Forest (Conservation) Rules, 2003 along with all necessary undertakings/certificates, including documentary proof in support of allocation of such block in favour of the new allocattee and details of non-forest/revenue forest land identified for creation of compensatory afforestation, wherever required, is submitted by the new allocattee to the Nodal Officer concerned;
(ii) Non-forest/revenue forest land identified by the new allocattee for creation of compensatory afforestation, wherever required, is inspected and found to be suitable for creation of compensatory afforestation and from management point of view by the Divisional Forest Officer(s) having jurisdiction over such land; and
(iii) A copy of part-I of Form-A along with all necessary undertakings/certificates submitted by the new allocattee along with a certificate from the Divisional Forest Officer(s) having jurisdiction over the non-forest/revenue land identified for creation of compensatory afforestation, wherever required, stating therein that such land is suitable for creation of compensatory afforestation and from management point of view, is provided by the Nodal Officer or the State Government concerned to the authority with whom the proposal submitted by the original allocattee is presently pending. Such documents will substitute and replace the corresponding documents available in the proposal submitted by the original allocattee.
12. Now, State Government of Odisha vide their letter no. 10F(Cons) 72/2013/20567/F&E dated 07.10.2017 (Pg-606-738/c) informed that the Addl. PCCF (Forest Diversion) & Nodal Officer, FC Act, O/o PCCF, Odisha vide his letter No.20959 dt.22/09/2017 has furnished the duly filled in part-I of Form A provided by the new allocattee i.e M/s Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) India Limited along with necessary undertakings and other documents pertaining to forest area coming within jurisdiction of Sambalpur Forest Division and Jharsuguda Forest Division of this coal block duly countersigned by the respective DFOs in respect of above forest diversion proposal in a separate volume (Pg-609-616/c), in compliance to the guidelines dt.09/06/2015 of MoEF&CC for further processing / considering the forest diversion proposal under Section 2 of FC Act,1980. 13. However, the detailed compensatory afforestation scheme with suitability certificate in compliance to guidelines dt.09/06/2015 as mentioned at para 11 (ii) and (iii) is not given.
The facts related to the above proposal may be placed before FAC in its meeting to be held on 16.11.2017 for their examination and appropriate recommendation.
****
Agenda No. 5 F. No. 8-27/2016-FC Sub: Diversion of balance forest land of 401.7824 ha including 7.2807 ha of safety zone out of total forest land of 519.7472 ha within total mining lease area of 618.576 ha for Iron Ore Mining in Gandhamardan (Block-A) mining lease in Keonjhar District, Odisha of M/s Odisha Mining Corporation Ltd. during 2nd renewal of mining lease period (likely to extended up to 31.03.2020 as per amended provision of MMDR Act, 2015)
1. The State Government of Odisha vide their letter No. 10F (Cons) 158/2015/6513/F&E dated 07.04.2016 submitted a proposal for diversion of balance forest land of 401.7824 ha including 7.2807 ha of safety zone out of total forest land of 519.7472 ha within total mining lease area of 618.576 ha
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for Iron Ore Mining in Gandhamardan (Block-A) mining lease in Keonjhar District, Odisha of M/s Odisha Mining Corporation Ltd. during 2nd renewal of mining lease period .
2. The facts related to the proposal as contained in the State Government’s letter dated 07.04.2017 are given below in the form of fact sheet:
FACT SHEET 1. Name of the Proposal Diversion of balance forest land 401.7824 ha including 7.2807 ha of safety zone out of total forest land of 519.7472 ha within total mining lease area of 618.576 ha for Iron Ore Mining in Gandhamardan (Block-A) mining lease in Keonjhar District, Odisha of M/s Odisha Mining Corporation Ltd. during 2nd renewal of mining lease period. 2. Location (i) State Odisha (ii) District Keonjhar 3. Particulars of Forests: (i) Name of Forest Division and Keonjhar Forest Division Forest area involved. 401.7824 ha
(ii) Legal status/Sy.No. Proposed Reserved Forest 375.5607 ha Village Forest 26.2217 ha Total 401.7824 ha
4. Vulnerability to erosion Not given 5. (i) Vegetation --
(ii) Density The forest land applied for diversion involves Gandhamardan Proposed Reserved Forest and Village Forest land. Gandhamardan Proposed Reserved Forest comes under 3C/C2e (ii) moist peninsular low level Sal Forest type under Champion & Seth classification with site quality-IV. The prevailing vegetation consists of Sal and its associates like Pterocarpus marsupium, Terminalia alata, Emblica officnalis, bridelia retusa, Gmelina arborea, Cleisanthus collinus, Diospiros melanoxylon etc. The crop canopy density varies from 0.3 to 0.4
(iii) No. of trees enumerated/to be 87,591 number of trees above 30 cm girth and 2,054 actually felled number of poles have been enumerated over the applied forest area 6. Whether area is significant from No rare or endangered flora & fauna is noticed in this wildlife point of view area but however, movement of mega fauna like elephant is often noticed in the fringe area. The area comes under the elephant habitat zone-2 of ORSAC, Bhubaneswar. 7. Whether forms part of National The applied area does not form part of any National park, Wildlife Sanctuary, park, Wildlife Sanctuary, Biosphere Reserve, Tiger Biosphere Reserve, Tiger Reserve, Reserve, Elephant Corridor, etc. However, movement Elephant Corridor, etc. (if so, of wild elephants is often noticed in the fringe areas. details of the area and comments The area comes under the elephant habitat zone-2 of of the Chief Wildlife Warden ORSAC, Bhubaneswar.
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8. Whether any RET species of flora No and fauna are found in the area. If so details thereof 9. Approximate distance of the Not given proposed site for diversion from boundary of forest. 10. Whether any protected No archaeological/ heritage site/defence establishment or any other important monuments is located in the area. 11. Whether any work of in violation Violation: of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 has been carried out (i) Illegal dumping of ores on forest land (Yes/No). If yes details of the (Gandhamardan PRF) extracted from adjoining same including period of work lease Block-B in the lease hold area of Block-A of done, action taken on erring dimension 200 mt x 40 mt (approx. 3.00 ha) at the officials. Whether work in common boundary with GPS location. violation is still in progress. Latitude : N 210 37’04.5” Longitude : E 850 30’47.2”
(ii) 2 ha. of forest land (Gandhamardan PRF) has been illegally used for road in Block-A without approval in violation of the FC Act, 1980.
Action taken:
(i) Show Cause notice has been issued to the Regional Manager, Gandhamardan Iron ore mines, M/s OMC Ltd. vide letter No. 9513 dated 19.12.2011. (ii) OR Case No. 23 of 2015-16 has been booked and action is being taken for sanction and submission of prosecution in the Hon’ble Court of SDJM, Keonjhar.
Present status:
(i) Removal of dump from the OB dump site in Block-A is under progress, as per the direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India vide their order dated 16.04.2012 and subsequent direction of Steel and Mines Department, Govt. of Odisha. (ii) The lessee has represented and submitted a proposal for use of the road under question which is under consideration at the level of MoEF&CC, Govt. of India 12. Whether the requirement of forest Yes land as proposed by the user agency in col. 2 of Part-I is unavoidable and barest minimum for the project, if no recommended area item-wise with details of alternatives examined.
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13. Whether clearance under the Yes, (Pg-393-401/c) Environment (protection) Act, User Agency has accorded Environment clearance vide 1986 is required? Ministry’s letter no. J-11015/1088/2007-IA.II (M) dated 16.01.2009 14. Compensatory Afforestation (i) Details of non-forest 329.7743 ha of non-forest Govt. land identified in area/degraded forest area village Khamarpadar under Thuamulrampur Tahasil in identified for CA, its distance Kalahandi District. (Pg-282-301/) from adjoining forest, number of patches, sixe of each patches. (ii) Map showing non- Submitted forest/degraded forest area identified for CA and adjoining forest boundaries. (iii) Detailed CA scheme Detailed CA scheme is given and placed in file at Pg- including species to be 282-301/c. planted, implementing agency, time schedule, cost structure, etc. (iv) Total financial outlay for CA Rs. 3,19,61,400.00 (Pg-301/c) (v) Certificate from the Land Suitability certificate has been given by DFO, competent authority Kalahandi South Division Pg-45/c regarding suitability of the area identified for CA and from management point of view. 15. Catchment Area Treatment NA 16. Rehabilitation of Oustees a) No of families involved No b) Category of families Nil c) Details of rehabilitation plan Nil
17. Employment likely to be generated a) Whether the project is likely Yes to generate employment b) Permanent/ Regular Employment (Number of 377 person) c) Temporary Employment (Number of person-days) 2000 18. Compliance of Scheduled Tribe District Collector, Keonjhar has issued certificate and Other Traditional Forest regarding compliance of Scheduled Tribe and Other Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 Rights) Act, 2006 for 519.7472 ha of forest land. (Pg- 309-372/c) But only photocopy is submitted.
19. Site Inspection Report by RCCF Pg-81-84/c
20. Cost Benefit Ratio 1:13.60 (Pg-251-253) 21. Total Cost of the Project Rs 10962.3135 (Rupees in Lakh)
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22. Total period for which the forest 5 years is proposed to be diverted (In years) 23. Recommendation i. DFO The DFO, Keonjhar intimated that the applied diversion proposal over 401.7824 (375.5607 ha Gandhamardan proposed reserved forest and 26.2217 ha village forest) is under 2nd RML with effect from 21.05.2013 for a period of 20 years with validity up to 20.05.2033. However, the validity of the lease has to be appraised in the light of MMDR (amendment) Act, 2015. The proposed areas is unavoidable and the barest minimum for the purpose of mining. There is no sign of prevalence of endangered, threatened and vulnerable wild fauna in the said area except movement of wild elephant often noticed in the fringe areas. The proposed land use plan for the said forest land does not have adequate safe guard measures for maintaining ecological stability. Thus, it is suggested that the lessee may be stipulated to take up intensive SMC measures to arrest plausible soil erosion and ensuring conservation of the run off. In addition, it is also suggested that the lessee may be stipulated to earmark proportionate area as deemed fit for the purpose of stacking of top soil in the proposed land use plan. The proposed diversion of forest land will not attract displacement of people. The said proposal is therefore submitted for necessary approval under section 2 (ii) of FCA, 1980 taking the aforesaid facts into consideration. (Pg-80/c)
ii. RCCF The RCCF intimated that the project may be considered for approval as per provision under section 2 (ii) of Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, 1980 (Amended), on its own merit with the suggestion that condition may be imposed on the User Agency to take up intensive Soil & Moisture Conservation Measures in the lease area and to stack top soil separately in an earmarked area within the area proposed for dumping of overburden. (Pg-84/c)
iii. PCCF/Nodal Officer Recommended (Pg-85/c)
iv State Government Recommended (Pg-86/c)
24. District Profile (i) Total Geographical area of the district/division 830300.00 ha
(ii) Total Forest area/ Divisional 336615.6293 ha Forest area
(iii) Total area diverted 10102.8195 ha (in 71 nos. of cases) since 1980
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(iv) Total CA stipulated since 1980 (Forest land) a. Forest land including C. A. 1669.6180 ha penal CA P. C. A. 4994.8675 ha
b. Non Forest Land C. A. 7247.7931 ha
(v) Progress of Compensatory Afforestation C.A. 1152.58 ha a. Forest land P.C.A 2996.34 ha
b. Non Forest land C.A. 5983.9016 ha
3. SITE INSPECTION REPORT OF THE REGIONAL OFFICE, BHUBANESWAR: The SIR has been carried by Shri R. K. Samal, IFS, Conservator of Forest © for this proposal on 28.07.2017 with the officials of State Forest Department and representatives of the User Agency. Regional Office, Bhubaneswar vide their letter no. 5-ORA 052/2007-FCE dated 30.10.2017 has submitted Site Inspection Report (SIR). The SIR is reproduced below:
1. Legal status of the forest land proposed for diversion
Proposed Reserve Forest-375.5607 ha. Village Forest - 26.2217 ha. Total - 401.7824 ha
2. Item-wise break-up details of the forest land proposed for diversion:
Purpose of utilisation Forest area in Ha. (virgin) Forest area Total forest in Ha. (pre- land in Ha. 80 broken) PRF VF Mining 306.2866 12.3715 19.51 338.1681 Dumping of overburden 3.5016 0 3.97 7.4716 Stacking of ore 0.4280 4.3597 0 4.7877 Sub-grade ore stacking 11.1385 0 0 11.1385 Processing and stacking 24.9305 3.9962 0 28.9267 Safety zone area of magazine (3.0 4.0091 0 0 4.0091 MT capacity) Safety zone of the mining lease 1.7864 5.4943 0 7.2807 Total 352.0807 26.2217 23.48 401.7824
3. Whether proposal involves any construction of buildings (including residential) or not. If yes, details thereof:
No. Does not involve construction of buildings including residential areas.
4. Total cost of the project at present rates:
Rs.109.62 crores
5. Wildlife:
Whether forest area proposed for diversion is important from wildlife point of view or not:
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No rare or endangered flora and fauna is noticed in this area but movement of mega fauna like elephant is often noticed in the fringe area. The area comes under the elephant habitat Zone-2 of ORSAC, Bhubaneswar. Apart from elephant, sloth beer and spotted deer are also seen in the area. Earlier there has been report about death of two elephants by falling into the pits of Gandhamardan-B mine during July ,2005.
6. Vegetation:
The applied forest land is a part of Gandhamardan PRF which comes under the type 3C/C2e (ii) Moist Peninsular low level Sal forest type under Champion & Seth classification with canopy density 0.3 to 0.4 at the lower reaches and little higher at higher reaches and with site quality-IV.
(a) Total number of trees to be felled. As per the sample plot estimation an estimated 87,591 number of trees above 30 cm girth and 2,054 number of poles have been enumerated over the applied forest area, which include 86,100 number of trees and 1,804 number of poles over virgin forest land of 378.3024 ha and 1,491 trees and 250 number of poles over broken up forest land of 23.48 ha.
Effect of removal of trees on the general ecosystem in the area:
The hills are having steep slopes and the area contains a lot of biodiversity and is very fragile. There will be loss of biodiversity as well as soil erosion.
(b) Important species:
The prevailing vegetation consists of Sal and its associates like Bija (Pterocarpus marsupium), Asan (Terminalia alata), Amla (Emblica officinalis), Kasi (Bridelia retusa), Gambhar (Gmelina arborea), Karada (Clestanthus collinus), Kumbhi (Careya arboria), Kendu (Dispyros melanoxylon), etc. The main climbers associated with Sal (Shorea robusta) in these areas are Atundi (Combretum decandrum), Latapalash (Butea superb), Siali (Bauhinia vahlii), Smilax tetraphylla, etc. The important grass species are Sinkula (Heteropogon contortus), Aplida mutica, Dicanthium carricosum, Duba (Cynodon dactylon), Chrysopogon aciculatus, etc.
Number of trees of girth below 60 cm.
As reported by DFO Keonjhar the total Number of trees below 60 cm to be felled is 71,191.
Number of trees of girth above 60 cm.
As reported by DFO Keonjhar the total Number of trees above 60 cm to be felled 18,454.
7. Background note on the proposal:
The mining lease was granted for a period of 30 years in the name of Gandhamardan (Block-A) iron mines in favour of M/s OMC Ltd. for exploration of iron ore over an area of 618.5760 ha. in the revenue villages of Suakati & Daonra and Gandhamardan proposed reserved forest under Banspal Tahasil of Keonjhar district, Odisha vide letter No.III (A) A-11/13 dated 21st May, 1963, Mining & Geology Deptt., Govt. of Odisha. Thus, original mining lease was valid till 20.05.1993. The first renewal of mining lease application was filed by the lessee for iron ore over 618.5760 ha on 04.04.1992 i.e. one year prior to the expiry of lease. However, the renewal could not be obtained till the year 2012 and in the meantime the 2nd RML application was filed on 01.05.2012 for another period of 20 years.
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The total mining lease area of Gandhamardan (Block-A) iron ore mines of M/s OMC Ltd. is 618.5760 ha. which involves 486.1340 ha. Proposed Reserved Forest, 33.6132 ha of Village Forest Land, 85.5772 ha non-forest Government land and 13.2516 ha non-forest tenanted land. The mining lease area is located within latitude 210 36’ 08.58286”N to 210 37’41.89734”N and longitude 850 29’ 13.06230” E to 850 31’ 16.78446” E of Survey of India toposheet No.73 G/6 and 73 G/10. The northern ML boundary of Gandhamardan Block-A Iron Ore Mines of M/s OMC Ltd. is common with the southern boundary of Gandhamardan Block –B Iron Ore Mines of M/s OMC Ltd.
The extent of land broken prior to 1980 in this lease is 73.291 ha. that includes 64.7242 ha. of forest land (57.3327 ha. PRF and 7.3915 ha. village forest) and 8.5672 ha of non-forest land. During 1st RML period, the State Government vide its letter dated 11.05.2007 had recommended for diversion of 117.9648 ha. of forest land (virgin forest land 76.7206 ha. and broken up forest land of 41.2442 ha.) out of 216.3617 ha of forest land proposed for diversion by the user agency considering wildlife concerns especially movement of elephants in the area. MoEF &CC, Government of India vide letter dated 17.02.2009 accorded State-I approval under Section-2 (ii) of FC Act, 1980 over 117.9648 ha. Now MOEF,Govt of India has accorded stage-II clearance for 41.2442 Ha of broken up forest land only a d to consider the balance 76.7206 ha of virgin forest land after getting the carrying capacity study report is available. Besides the above the User agency needs 2.270 Ha of area for making a haulage road for carrying of materials from Top Quarry of Gandhamardan -B
OMC Ltd. had earlier approached the Hon’ble Supreme Court in IA No.3402/2012 with the prayer to restore the entire Gandhamardan-A mining lease in their favour and diversion of balance forest land in the lease taking note of Wildlife Institute of India vetting the required Wildlife Management Plan. On the basis of Hon’ble Supreme court order dated 16.04.2012 the user agency has filed forest diversion proposal for the remaining forest land i.e. 401.7874 ha. (total forest land 519.7472 ha – 117.9648 ha. already agreed for diversion in principle. The proposed forest land for diversion of 401.7824 ha. now consists of virgin PRF-352.0807 ha., Virgin VF-26.2217 and 23.48 ha. pre- 1980 broken up forest land.
8. Compensatory afforestation:
Total forest land involved in this mining lease: 519.7472 ha. (-) Forest land for which Stage-I approval order has been accorded and CA cost deposited: 117.9648 ha. (-) Forest land broken up prior to 1980 for CA is not required: 64.7274 ha. (-) Forest land coming within safety zone for which CA is not required: 7.2807 ha. Non-forest land required for compensatory afforestation: 329.7743 ha.
329.7743 ha. has been identified in village Khamarpadar under Thuamul Rampur Tahasil of Kalahandi district in Kalahandi (South) Forest Division.
(a) Whether land for compensatory afforestation is suitable from plantation and management point of view or not:
Yes. Suitability certificate given by Forest and Revenue authorities.
(b) Whether land for compensatory afforestation is free from encroachment/other encumbrances:
Yes.
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(c) Whether land for compensatory afforestation is important from Religious/Archaeological point of view:
No.
(d) Land identified for raising compensatory afforestation is in how many patches, whether patches are compact or not:
Land identified for raising CA is in 3 patches. The patches are compact.
(e) Map with details:
Enclosed in the diversion proposal.
(f) Total financial outlay:
The approved CA scheme has provisions for barbed wire fencing, special soil conservation measures, etc. tree species to be planted under the scheme are Teak (Tectona grandis), Karanj (Pongamia piñnata), Neem (Azadiracta indica), Amla (Emblica officinalis), Bahada (Terminalia belerica), Mahul (Madhuca indica) and Sisoo (Dalbergia sisoo), etc. Total cost of CA is Rs. 3,19,61,400/-.
9. Whether proposal involves violation of Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 or not. If yes, a detailed report on violation including action taken against the concerned officials:
Violation: (i) Illegal dumping of ores on forest land (Gandhamrdan PRF) extracted from adjoining lease Gandhamrdan Block-B in the lease hold area of Gandhamardan Block-A having dimension 200 mt x 40 mt (approx. 3.00 ha) at the common boundary with GPS location.
Latitude : N 210 37’04.5” Longitude : E850 30’47.2”
(ii) 2 ha. of forest land (Gandhamardan PRF) has been illegally used for road purpose in Gandhamardan Block-A without approval in violation of the FC Act, 1980. Action taken:
(i) Show cause notice has been issued to the Regional Manager, Gandhamardan Iron ore mines, M/s OMC Ltd. vide letter No. 9513 dated 19.12.2011 by DFO Keonjhar. (ii) OR Case No. 23BJ of 2015-16 has been booked. Prosecution sanctioned and submitted vide PR No.12 of 2016-17 in the Court of SDJM, Keonjhar by DFO Keonjhar.
Present status:
(i) Removal of dump from the OB dump site in Block-A is under progress as per the direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India vide their order dated 16.04.2012 and subsequent direction of Steel and Mines Department, Govt. of Odisha. (ii) The lessee has represented and submitted a proposal for use of the road under question which has been furnished to MoEF&CC, Govt. of India for consideration.
10. Whether proposal involves rehabilitation of displaced persons. If yes, whether rehabilitation plan has been prepared by the State Government or not :
No.
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11. Reclamation plan:
Details and financial allocation:
Reclamation will be carried after exhaustion of the mined out areas as per the mining plan.
12. Details on catchment and command area under the project:
Not applicable. However, it contains the Gandhamardan hills which are steep hills.
Catchment area treatment plan to prevent siltation of reservoir:
Not applicable.
13. Cost benefit ratio:
1:13.60
14. Recommendations of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests/State Government:
Yes. Recommended.
15. Recommendations of Addl. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Central) along with detailed reasons:
The site inspection report of CF (Central) for the proposal of application for diversion of balance forest land of 401.782 ha including 7.2807 ha of safety zone out of total forest land of 519.7472 ha within total mining lease area of 618.576 ha for iron ore mining in Gandhamardan (Block-A) mining lease in Keonjhar District, Odisha of M/s Odisha Mining corporation Ltd. is forwarded for consideration of the Ministry.
The proponent has one mine adjacent to this proposed site and both the sites are situated in the Gandhamardan hills, which is a pristine forest ecosystem of the State. Which is a habitat of wildlife including the flagship species, the elephants. There had been alarming incidence of elephants death due to drowning in the dangerously exposed mining pits of OMC.
Gandhamardan hills also cater to river Baitarani, through the feeder streams, which shall also be affected by mining activities. The Ministry may keep in mind these serious issues while considering this proposal.
16. Conservator of Forests shall give detailed comments on whether there are any alternative routes/alignment for locating the project on the non-forest land:
It is site specific and it cannot be shifted to any other forest or non-forest land.
17. Utility of the project:
It has been stated by the project authorities that about 377 people will get direct and 2000 people will get indirect employment.
Numbers of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes to be benefited by the project:
The area has a lot of Scheduled Tribes population and is expected many of them to be benefited directly and indirectly.
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18.
(a) Whether land being diverted has any socio-cultural/ religious value:
Not reported.
Whether any sacred grove or very old growth trees/forests exist in the areas proposed for (b) diversion:
Yes, the area contain old growth trees existing in the natural state.
(c) Whether the land under diversion forms part of any unique eco-system:
Yes, the area exhibits an undulated topography with varying elevations from 620 to 1009 metre above mean sea level. This is the southward extension of the North-South trending Gandhamardan hill and is a prominent physiographic unit with highest elevation 1061 metre above mean sea level occurring towards north of this area. It is stated that the local population depend this forest for various herbs and shrubs and firewood for meeting their day to day lives.
19. Situation with respect to any Protected Area:
There is no protected area nearby. Similipal Tiger Reserve is around 60 km away.
20. Any other information relating to the project:
The validity of the lease is till 31st March, 2020. The lease is adjacent to another lease of the same agency i.e. Gandhamardan-B. Total area of the Gandhamardan-B lease is 1590.87 ha. containing 1409.649 ha of forest area and out of this forest clearance has been given for 232.438 ha. and Stage- I clearance has been given for balance area of this lease. The ecosystem of Gandhamardan hills will be severely damaged if mining is also taken up in the hill tops of the Gandhamardan-A area, rather the foot hills of Gandhamardan-A lease is covered with Lantana and Eupatorium weeds and mining has already been done and being used for storage of ore. This also includes the roads that lead to Gandhamardan-B lease. For storage of iron ore and proper transportation from Gandhamardan-B mines the remaining broken up forest land prior to 1980 i.e. 23.48 ha. along with 2.270 ha for construction of haulage road will be sufficient for meeting the needs of the user agency as on date. The balance virgin areas with natural forests may be kept intact and shall be operated once the Gandhamardan-B lease is exhausted of the stock of iron ore and progressively reclaimed. This will ensure containing the damage to the environment in this area and meeting the needs of the local people. The mitigative measures proposed in the Wild Management Plan prepared by user agency and vetted by Wildlife Institute of India will reduce the ill-effects for movement of elephants and other wildlife in the region. The DSS report of the proposed mine is enclosed.
4. It is imperative to mention that in-principal approval for diversion of 117.9648 ha in Gandhmardan Block A was granted on 17.02.2009 subject to certain conditions prescribed therein including the condition No (6) which states that the approval under FCA, 1980 is restricted to 117.9648 ha & the prossession of the balance forest area shall be taken over by the Forest Department before grant of the formal approval. However, this condition was waived off by the competent authority while issue of stage-II clearance for diversion of broken –up forest land of 41.2442 ha on 24.04.2017. The copies of in-principle approval dated 17.02.2009 and 24.04.2017 are placed at F/X.
The facts related to the above proposal may be placed before FAC in its meeting to be held on 16.11.2017 for their examination and appropriate recommendation.
****
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Agenda No. 6 F. No. 8-62/2017-FC Sub: Proposal for according permission for use of 8.2276 ha. of forest land within total Mining lease block area of 256.304 ha. for Manganese Mining lease located in villages Dhanurjoyapur, Kanarda, Laserda and Karo RF within the jurisdiction of Keonjhar Forest Division under Barbil Tahasil of Keonjhar district, Odisha for undertaking exploratory drilling of 250 no. of boreholes of 4” dia (250 boreholes @ 0.02 ha each totaling 5.0 ha., 2 no. of trail pits @ 0.025 ha. totaling 0.05 ha. and 3.1776 ha. for construction of road/path for prospecting of minerals by the Preferred Bidder M/s Triveni Earth Movers Private Ltd. S.N.1® Page 1-172/cor. 1. The State Government of Odisha vide their letter No. 10F (Cons) 224/2017/22653/F&E dated 06.11.2017 submitted the above mentioned proposal seeking prior approval of the Central Government under Sectin-2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. 2. The facts related to the proposal as contained in the State Government’s letter dated 06.11.2017 are given below in the form of fact sheet: FACT SHEET 1. Name of the Proposal Proposal for according permission for use of 8.2276 ha. of forest land within total Mining lease block area of 256.304 ha. for Manganese Mining lease located in villages Dhanurjoyapur, Kanarda, Laserda and Karo RF within the jurisdiction of Keonjhar Forest Division under Barbil Tahasil of Keonjhar district, Odisha for undertaking exploratory drilling of 250 no. of boreholes of 4” dia (250 boreholes @ 0.02 ha each totaling 5.0 ha., 2 no. of trail pits @ 0.025 ha. totaling 0.05 ha. and 3.1776 ha. for construction of road/path for prospecting of minerals by the Preferred Bidder M/s Triveni Earth Movers Private Ltd. 2. Location (i) State Odisha (ii) District Keonjhar 3. Particulars of Forests: (i) Name of Forest Division Keonjhar Forest Division : 8.2276 ha. and Forest area involved. Drilling of bore holes: 5.00 ha. Trail Pit : 0.05 ha. Construction road/path 3.1776 ha.
(ii) Legal status/Sy.No. 5.7586 ha. Revenue Forest & 2.469 ha. Non-Forest land recorded as Forest as on 25.10.1980
4. Vulnerability to erosion The site falls under the physiographic Joda barbil plateau extending from Chamakpur to the border of Singhbhum of Jharkhand in north and boarder of Bonai in the west. This region is very largely an extension southwards of Singhbhum rocks. This group of rocks comprising trap, tuffites, shale, quartzite, phyllite, banded haematite jasper and banded haematite quartzite form high hill ranges with narrow deep valley in between. In this area massive deposit of iron and manganese are associated with B.H.J. and shales respectively in this area. The proposed site is predominantly undulated plain and is not prone to soil erosion.
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5. (i) Vegetation NA
(ii) Forest Type 3C/C2e Moist Peninsular Valley Sal
(iii) Average crown density of There are 455 nos. of sound, 350 nos. of unsound trees and 881 vegetation nos. of poles below 30 cm girth enumerated over 8.2276 ha forest land, located within the allotted mining block, proposed for prospecting operation. The average crown density is about 0.4
(iv) No. of trees enumerated/to be 455 nos. of sound, 350 nos. of unsound trees and 881 nos. of actually felled poles below 30 cm girth 6. Whether area is significant from The area does not form part of any National wildlife point of view Park/Sanctuary/Biosphere reserve. It does not come under any wild life corridor but is situated at an approximate distance of 2.31 km from Karo-Karampada Elephant Corridor. The area falls under elephant habitat zone-2 as per report of ORSAC. The wildlife present in and around the forest land proposed to be utilized for prospecting are Sambar, Spotted deer, barking deer, Jackal, hyena, Elephant, Sloth bear, Leopard, Mongoose, Peacock, Cuckoo, Grey Jungle Fowl, Blue jay, Owl, bluelegged bustard, Golden-backed Woodpecker, Python, Krait, Cobra, Russell’s Viper, blind snake, Monitor, Chamelion, Catla Catla, Labio rohita, Cirrhinus mrigala, Wallago atttu, Labio rohita, Cirrhinus mrigala, Wallago attu, Notopturus chitala and Chana striatus. Movement of wild elephants is often noticed. 7. Whether forms part of National The proposed site does not form part of National Park, Wild park, Wildlife Sanctuary, life Sanctuary, Biosphere reserve, Tiger Reserve, Elephant Biosphere Reserve, Tiger Reserve, Corridor, Wildlife Migration Corridor. However, the site falls Elephant Corridor, etc. (if so, in elephant habitat zone-2 as per report of ORSAC, details of the area and comments Bhubaneswar of the Chief Wildlife Warden 8. Whether any RET species of flora No rare/endangered/unique species of flora and fauna is found and fauna are found in the area. If in the applied area but elephant movement is often noticed. so details thereof 9. Approximate distance of the The proposed prospecting operation site is situated in village proposed site for diversion from Dhanurjoyapur, Kanarda, Laserda & Karo RF under Barbil boundary of forest. Tahasil and under jurisdiction of Barbil Range of Keonjhar district 10. Whether any protected No archaeological/ heritage site/defence establishment or any other important monuments is located in the area. 11. Whether any work of in violation No of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 has been carried out (Yes/No). If yes details of the same including period of work done, action taken on erring officials. Whether work in violation is still in progress. 12. Whether the requirement of forest Yes land as proposed by the user agency in col. 2 of Part-I is
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unavoidable and barest minimum for the project, if no recommended area item-wise with details of alternatives examined. 13. Whether clearance under the NA Environment (protection) Act, 1986 is required? 14. Compensatory Afforestation (i) Details of non-forest No compensatory afforestation is required for the purpose of area/degraded forest area forest land to be used for exploratory drilling as per provisions identified for CA, its of guidelines of MoEF&CC, Government of India vide F. No. distance from adjoining 11-96/2009-FC dt. 4.7.2014. forest, number of patches, sixe of each patches. However, keeping in view of earlier approvals of MoEF&CC in case of prospecting of leases, CA scheme for 3.228 ha. has been prepared by the DFO, Keonjhar and approved by Addl. PCCF(Forest Diversion) & Nodal Officer, FC Act in lieu of 3.1776 ha. of forest land being proposed to be used for the purpose of construction of road in this project. In order to raise compensatory afforestation, 3.228 ha. of non-forest land suitable for plantation has been identified in village Upar Birkala under Bansapal Tehsil of Keonjhar district. (ii) Map showing non------forest/degraded forest area identified for CA and adjoining forest boundaries. (iii) Detailed CA scheme (Pg-157-177/c) including species to be planted, implementing agency, time schedule, cost structure, etc. (iv) Total financial outlay for CA Rs. 5,53,300.00 (Pg-174/c) (v) Certificate from the Site Suitability Certificate has been submitted and placed in competent authority file at Pg-177/c. regarding suitability of the area identified for CA and from management point of view. 15. Catchment Area Treatment NA 16. Rehabilitation of Oustees a) No of families involved Nil b) Category of families NA c) Details of rehabilitation plan NA
17. Employment likely to be generated a) Whether the project is likely NA to generate employment b) Permanent/ Regular Employment (Number of person) c) Temporary Employment (Number of person-days)
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18. Compliance of Scheduled Tribe NA and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006
19. Site Inspection Report by DFO The DFO in his specific recommnedtatoin stated that the proposed forest diversion proposal on prospecting operation will be exercised through drilling of boreholes within the allotted mining block with temporary change in land use. Therefore, the proposal on prospecting operation over 8.2276 ha in forest land within the mining lease is submitted for consideration under Section 2 (ii) under Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. (Pg-151-153/c)
20. Cost Benefit Ratio 1:8.74 (Pg-150/c) 21. Total Cost of the Project Rs 1283.00 lakhs 22. Total period for which the forest 2 years land is proposed to be utilised for prospecting (In years) 23. Recommendation i. DFO Submitted for consideration (Pg-48/c) ii. RCCF May be considered on its merit (Pg-49/c) iii. PCCF/Nodal Officer Recommended (Pg-50/c) iv State Government Recommended (Pg-51/c)
4. The State Government of Odisha in their letter dated 06.11.2017 informed this Ministry as below: 1. Brief description: Geological Report on the exploration for Manganese ore in Lasarda-Pacheri Block in Keonjhar district prepared by the Geological Survey of India has concluded about occurrence of total manganese resources to the tune of 11.16 MTs with average grade of 22.72 % Mn at 10 % Mn cut-off ( page 62-99/c). Laserda-Pacheri Manganese Block is located within the village boundary of Dhanurjoyapur, Kanarda, Laserda and Karo RF under Barbil Tahasil of Keonjhar district, Odisha. This Manganese block e-auctioned by Government of Odisha, Steel & Mines Department for grant of composite licence under MMDR Act, 1957 and Mineral (Auction) Rule, 2015 and M/s Thriveni Earthmovers Pvt. Ltd was declared as a Preferred Bidder under Rule 17 read with Rule 9(4)(b)(iii) of the above mentioned Auction Rules. As required under Rule 18(1) of thee Auction Rules and tender documents of the above mineral block, the Preferred Bidder M/s Triveni Earth Movers Pvt. Ltd. deposited performance security of Rs. 6,76,95,545/- and thereafter the State Government in Steel & Mines Department issued Letter of Intent(LoI) vide their letter No. IV(MISC)SM-06/2017 848/SM dt. 27.1.2017 under Rule 18(1) of Auction Rules for grant of Composite License in favour of M/s Triveni Earth Movers Private Ltd for Manganese ore over an area of 256.304 ha. in village Dhanurjoypur, Kanarda, Laserda and Karo RF under Barbil Tahasil of Keonjhar district, Odisha (page 38-41/PP). The LoI and subsequent grant of Composite License shall be subject to provision of the Act and Rules made there under, as amended from time to time and the Preferred Bidder shall be designated as the Successful Bidder and subsequently granted the Composite License only upon satisfactory completion of all the requirements under the Act and Rules made thereunder. As per condition No. 3.2(a)(ii) of LoI, obtaining of all consents, approvals, permits, non-objections and the like as may be required under the applicable laws shall be required to be Successful Bidder for commencement of prospecting operations. Besides, as per condition 3.2(a)(iii) of LoI, Scheme of prospecting is also required to be submitted by the Preferred Bidder to be designated as Successful Bidder. The Scheme of Prospecting has been submitted under Rule 4(1) of MCDR,1988 and Minerals (Evidence of Mineral contents) Rules, 2015 for Manganese in Laserda-Pacheri Block has been submitted by the Preferred Bidder (Page 85-116/PP) to the Indian Bureau of Mines vide their letter dt. 6.2.2017(Page 117/PP). The Composite License area of Laserda-Pacheri Manganese Block of
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256.304ha. finds place within the latitude 220 03’25.92720” N to 220 04’11.47080” N and longitude 850 17’53.81808” E to 850 19’16.01004” E in survey of India Topo Sheet No. N45H8. However, on verification of land schedule by Tahasildar, Barbil, the total block area comes to 256.289 ha. that includes 183.875 ha Forest land (0.77 ha Karo RF, 86.988 ha Revenue Forest and 96.117 ha Non-forest land recorded as Forest as on 25.10.1980) and 72.414 ha Non-forest land. The Tahasildar, Barbil has furnished the land status of the Laserda-Pacheri Manganese Block area as on 25.10.1980 which is attached at page 119-131/PP. In view of requirement of LoI and in order to be a Successful Bidder for this Manganese Block, the Preferred Bidder M/s Triveni Earth Movers Ltd. has filed this application for undertaking prospecting over the forest land of the mining block. The proposed prospecting operation of the allotted land will be undertaken under G2 (General Exploration) category of UNFC standards under Part III of Mineral (Evidence of Mineral Contents) Rule, 2015.
It has been reported that prospecting operation through surface geological mapping and collection of samples @85 bore holes of 4’’ dia was earlier carried out by GSI in the said mining block during the year 2001-02 to 2004-05 prior to grant of LoI. The GSI has recommended to continue the drilling in view of the encouraging analytical results to ascertain the strike and dip continuity of the ore zone. The present prospecting operation as applied for by the Preferred Bidder, will be carried out through drilling of 354 nos. bore holes of 4” dia within the mining block. It is proposed that 250 numbers bore holes will be drilled in forest land and the remaining 104 numbers in non-forest land. In addition to the bore holes, 2 numbers of trial pits of dimension- 25 m x 10 m are also proposed to be dug in forest land for the purpose of beneficiation. As reported by the DFO, Keonjhar in Part II of the application, total forest area to be used for prospecting purposes is 8.2276 ha. comprising of 5.7586 ha. of Revenue Forest land and 2.4690 ha. of non-forest land recorded as forest as on 25.10.1980. Out of 8.2276 ha. of forest land to be used for prospecting purposes, 5.0ha. is for drilling of 250 no. of boreholes @ 0.02ha. per borehole, 0.05 ha. for 2 no. of Trail pits @ 0.025ha. per pit and remaining 3.1776ha. for construction of road/pathway over a length of 7944mt having width of 4mt. to facilitate movement of machinery and equipment for the purpose of prospecting. The additional boreholes of 104 no. to be drilled in the non-forest land would require 4.184ha. of non-forest land as well. It is also mentioned in the Part I of the application that roads already exist over 2.567 ha within the mining block. As indicated by the applicant, the roads existing within the Mining Block includes PWD Black top road( 0.7325ha.), Village Road(1.4364ha.) and Other road/path(0.3981ha.). Since these roads already exist within the Mining Block area, the applicant would also use such road/paths for the purpose of transportation of machinery to be used for prospecting in addition to the road/path to be constructed by it using 3.1776ha. as proposed in this proposal. GPS readings of all the proposed boreholes are attached to the proposal. 30 personnel are to be deployed for the purpose of prospecting and Company proposes to take up prospecting activities 24hours a day in three shifts. However it needs to be restricted to 12 hours i.e. 6AM to 6PM and no prospecting activities be allowed in the night hours. The applicant has applied for a time period of 3 years for the purpose of prospecting. But in application (Form C) given by the project proponent, the period of prospecting license required for 2 years only.
2. Total cost of the project is Rs. 1283 lakhs. 3. Forest land: Total forest area proposed to be used for prospecting purposes is 8.2276ha. comprising of 5.7586 ha. of Revenue Forest land and 2.4690 ha. of non-forest land recorded as forest as on 25.10.1980 within total Mining Block area of 256.304ha Out of 8.2776ha. of forest land to be used for prospecting purposes, 5.0ha. is for drilling of 250 no. of boreholes @ 0.02ha. per borehole, 0.05ha. for 2 no. of Trail pits @ 0.025ha. per pit and remaining 3.1776ha. for construction of road/pathway over a length of 7944mt having width of 4mt. to facilitate movement of machinery and equipment for the purpose of prospecting. The detailed purpose wise break up of forest land proposed for prospecting operation is depicted hereunder-
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Purpose wise breakup of the total forest land required for prospecting operation:
Sl. Forest land Pattern of Utilization Number/ Dimension Status of Forest land No. (in ha)
1 Drilling of Bore Hole 250 Nos./ 5.00 Revenue Forest & Non- 4” dia @0.02 ha/ bore hole Forest land recorded as forest as on 25.10.1980 2 Trial Pit 2 Nos/ 0.05 Revenue Forest 25m. x 10m. 3 Construction of road/ path Length= 7944.00 Mtr 3.1776 Revenue Forest & Non- Width= 4.00 Mtr Forest land recorded as forest as on 25.10.1980 Total 8.2276
4. Flora & fauna:The prevailing vegetation in the forest land located within the mining block includes Sal and Sal associates in Karo RF. The geological formation of this area is quite suitable for growth of Sal and its associates. Sal constitutes around 70 to 75% of the top canopy. The middle storey is inconspicuous. The quality of Sal varies from all India Quality II to IV. Quality II Sal is mainly confined to the valleys while Q III occurs on the hill slopes of moderate gradient. Q IV Sal is mainly confined in the ridges. Q I Sal is completely absent.
The principal associates of Sal includes Diospyros melanoxylon, Madhuca indica, Terminalia alata, Lagerstroemia parviflora, Anogeissus latifolia, Terminalia belerica, Syzygium cumini, Mangifera indica, Schleichera oleosa. Adina cordifolia, Pterocarpus marsupium, Bombax ceiba, Bridelia retusa. The middle story is represented by Ougeinia ougenensis, Careya arborea, Trema orientalis, Emblica officinalis, Cassia fistula etc. The shrubs and undergrowth are characterized by Indigofera pulchella, Ardisia solenacea, Flemingia chhapar, Helicteres ixora and Clerodendron viscosum etc. The prevailing climbers include Bauhinia vahlii, Combretum decandrum and Butia parviflora. The grasses over the forest floor include Chrysopogon aciculatus, Imperata cylindrica, Dicanthium carricosum, Cynodon dactylon etc.
As reported by the DFO, Keonjhar Division, the canopy density of the prevailing forest growth varies from 0.2 to 0.8 in Karo RF. The average density is about 0.4. Pure patches of Sal occur mainly in Siddhamath near Karo River.
The part of the forest land (Karo RF), involved in the mining block, is moderately dense with canopy density varying from 0.5 to 0.6. The balance forest land (Revenue, DLC, Sabik Forest), involved in the mining block is predominantly characterised with scattered growth of Mahula (Madhuca indica) and Kendu (Diospyros melanoxylan) with canopy density varying from 0.3 to 0.5. The prevailing vegetation comes under the forest type 3C/C2e Moist Peninsular Valley Sal. The average density is about 0.4. The area does not form part of any National Park / Sanctuary / Biosphere reserve. It does not come under any wild life corridor. It is situated at an approximate distance of 2.31Km from Karo- Karampada Elephant Corridor. The area falls under Elephant habitat zone-2 as per report of ORSAC. The wildlife present in and around the forest land proposed to be utilized for prospecting are Sambar, Spotted deer, Barking deer, Jackal, Hyena, Elephant, Sloth Bear, Leopard, Mongoose, Peacock, Cuckoo, Red Jungle Fowl, Blue jay, Owl, Bluelegged bustard, Golden-backed Woodpecker, Python, Krait, Cobra, Russell’s Viper, Blind snake, Monitor, Chamelion, Catla catla, Labio rohita, Cirrhinus mrigala, Wallago attu, Notopturus chitala and Chana striatus. Movement of wild elephants is often noticed in the area. As regards impact of the proposed prospecting operation on the prevailing forest growth and wild fauna, the DFO, Keonjhar in his site inspection report has indicated the following.
(i) Construction of road/path in forest land and frequent use of road in the undulated plain ground will have adverse impact on ground flora, creation of non-congenial environment for regeneration at the drilling site due to soil compaction and resultant poor soil porosity and infiltration. (ii) Prevailing wild fauna(elephant) will be dissuaded from their residential habitat during drilling operation
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In view of above, the Preferred Bidder is required to take required measures to minimize the impact of prospecting operation on the flora and fauna of the area.
5. Tree enumeration:As per the Site inspection report of the DFO, Keonjhar Division, there are 455 nos. of sound, 350 nos. of unsound trees and 881 nos. of poles below 30 cm girth enumerated over forest land within the allotted mining block, proposed for undertaking prospecting operation. The species wise and diameter class wise abstract of enumerated trees in respect of the applied forest land in separate sheet is enclosed at (Page- 148/c). However as indicated by the Preferred Bidder at page 59/c, the prospecting operation does not involve clearing of forest or cutting of trees. Only cleaning of bushes and lopping of branches for the purpose of sighting is involved.
6. Compensatory Afforestation: No compensatory afforestation is required for the purpose of forest land to be used for exploratory drilling as per provisions of guidelines of MoEF&CC, Government of India vide F.No. 11-96/2009-FC dt. 4.7.2014. However as has been insisted by MoEF&CC in other prospecting proposals, a CA scheme for 3.228ha. has been prepared by the DFO, Keonjhar and approved by Addl. PCCF(Forest Diversion) & Nodal Officer, FC Act in lieu of 3.1776ha. of forest land being proposed to be used for the purpose of construction of road in this project. In order to raise compensatory afforestation, 3.228ha. of non-forest land suitable for plantation has been identified in village Upar Birkala under Bansapal Tehsil of Keonjhar district. A site specific CA scheme in Block plantation mode with 1000 plants per ha. has been technically approved by Addl. PCCF(Forest Diversion) & Nodal Officer, FC Act for an total financial outlay of Rs. 5,53,300/-. The CA scheme has provision for planting species like Jamun, Kuruma, Dhaura, Khair, Sissoo, Neem, Gambhar, Bahada, Harida, Karanja, Amla etc. GPS readings of identified non-forest land for CA, SoI topomap indicating the CA land are attached to the CA scheme along with its Shape file in CD form. A copy of the approved CA scheme is also attached to the proposal (page 157-177/c). The land schedule duly authenticated by Tahasildar, Bansapal is at page 177/c. The DFO, Keonjhar has also furnished land suitability certificate pertaining to non-forest land identified for raising of CA (page 177/c). The CA scheme shall be implemented departmentally at project cost. The Preferred Bidder has undertaken to bear the cost of compensatory afforestation.
7. Cost benefit analysis:It has also been reported that since this proposal is meant for prospecting operation in the auctioned block and forest land over 8.2276 ha will be required for prospecting operation, Cost Benefit analysis is difficult to be exercised in respect of said proposal in the light of the guideline issued under FC Act, 1980 vide F.No.7-69/2011-FC (pt) dated 01.08.2017 for the fact that prospecting operation as regards minerals in mining lease, bringing temporary change in land use, stands exempted from the requirement of NPV and Compensatory Afforestation. However, attempt has been made to arrive at the estimation of cost of forest land to be used temporarily and estimation of benefits of forest diversion in accordance with the aforesaid guideline dated 01.08.2017. The said estimations as regards cost and benefits of the project is enclosed at (Page 150/c). Such cost benefit analysis is arrived at 1:8.74 based on the available parameters.
9. Rehabilitation and Resettlement: This exploration Project does not involve displacement of human habitation.
10. Violation:No violation of Forest Conservation Act, 1980 has been reported by the Divisional Forest Officer, Keonjhar Forest Division. 11. Others: The DFO, Keonjhar Division has furnished his Site Inspection report at page 151-153/c. The NPV is not applicable for the forest land to be used for exploratory drilling as per provision of GoI, MoEF&CC guidelines bearing No. 11-96/2009-FC dt. 4.7.2014. However, forest land proposed to be used for construction of road to the extent of 3.1776ha. is liable for payment of NPV as per observation of MoEF in other prospecting proposals. The Preferred Bidder has undertaken to deposit the cost of NPV (page 59/c). The Profile of Keonjhar district, Keonjhar Division and State Profile have been furnished at Page- 154- 156/c.
12. Compliance of Govt. of India, MoEF circular on processing of the Forest diversion proposal as per provisions of the ST & Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006: As per provisions of Ministry’s guidelines bearing F. No. 11-96/2009-FC dt. 4.7.2014 prospecting is
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exempted from the requirement of submission of documentary evidence in support of settlement of rights in accordance with provisions of ST&OTFD(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 as stipulated in MoEF circular dt. 3.8.2009.
13. Geo-referenced digital map: Since it is not a case of diversion of forest land, compliance to Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India circular bearing letter F. No. 11-9/98 dated 8.7.2011 regarding providing Geo-referenced boundary in shape file pertaining to forest land proposed for use by the Applicant Company, is not required. The user agency has furnished Survey of India toposheet showing the location of the project and has also furnished the map showing the location of the proposed borehole within the ML area. DGPS map of entire mining Block area duly verified by ORSAC and authenticated by DFO, Keonjhar has been furnished.
14. Lease profile: The project profile of the Preferred Bidder is enclosed at Page 147/c.
15. Pr. CCF, Odisha has recommended this proposal.
16. State Government of Odisha further requested to examine the proposal and approved with the following conditions.
(i) User agency shall seek permission of DFO, Keonjhar Forest Division before entering into the forest area. (ii) Bore-holes shall be dug with prior permission of the DFO, Keonjhar Forest Division. (iii) Proper plugging of boreholes shall be made after exploration activities are complete. (iv) No tree felling shall be undertaken for exploration activities. Project activities shall be restricted to clearing of bushes and lopping of tree branches if any for the purpose of site preparation. (v) Existing path and roads only will be used by the user agency for the purpose of prospecting activities in addition to 3.1776ha. of forest land to be used for road purpose in the ML area. (vi) Drilling of boreholes will be limited to 250 no. with diameter of 4” within forest land. (vii) No labour camp shall be established on the forest land. (viii) No prospecting work shall be allowed after sunset(from 6PM to 6AM). (ix) No other construction activities shall be done by the user agency on forest land. (x) Preferred Bidder shall report the progress of drilling work to the DFO, Keonjhar and also furnish detailed report thereof on completion of the project. (xi) Adequate measures shall be taken by the user agency to ensure that prospecting activities do not harm the wildlife in the area. The user agency shall be responsible for any loss to the flora and fauna in the surrounding. Any damage done in this regard shall be compensated by the user agency from the project cost as per assessment of the DFO, Keonjhar. (xii) Instant permission of Govt. of India for prospecting in forest area, if accorded, would not confer any rights on the user agency to obtain diversion of forest land for mining from this area in future. (xiii) In case, rights over forest land proposed to be used for prospecting purpose, has already been settled in favour of eligible claimants as per provisions of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, the claimants shall either be compensated appropriately or location of boreholes be suitably re- located. (xiv) DFO, Keonjhar Forest Division may impose any other condition for protection and conservation of the flora and fauna in the forest area. (xv) CA scheme shall be implemented departmentally at project cost. (xvi) Certificate of incorporation, Memorandum and Article of Association of the Company (Preferred Bidder) shall be furnished. (xvii) Plan/map showing location of boreholes in forest land within Laserda-Pacheri Manganese Mining block area (A/3 or A/4 size) duly authenticated by Divisional Forest Officer, Keonjhar Division shall be furnished.
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The facts related to the above proposal may be placed before FAC in its meeting to be held on 16.11.2017 for their examination and appropriate recommendation.
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Agenda No. 7 File No. 5-3/2007-FC Subj: Discussion on the guidelines issued by the ministry for diversion of Forest land for non-forestry purpose under Forest (Conservation) act 1980 –for stipulating the norms for surveys and investigation (prospecting of Ores) on forest land
1) Para 1.3 of guidelines issued under Forest (Conservation) act 1980 covers Investigation and Survey which is reiterated as below
i) Investigations and surveys carried out in connection with development projects such as transmission lines, hydro-electric projects, seismic surveys, exploration for oil drilling, mining etc. will not attract the provisions of the Act as long as these surveys do not involve any clearing of forest or cutting of trees, and operations are restricted to clearing of bushes and lopping of tree branches for purpose of sighting. ii) If, however, investigations and surveys involve clearing of forest area or felling of trees, prior permission of the Central Government is mandatory. iii) Notwithstanding the above, survey, investigation and exploration shall not be carried out in wildlife sanctuaries, national parks and sample plots demarcated by the Forest Department without obtaining the prior approval of the Central Government whether or not felling of trees is involved. Clarification:-The Supreme Court has passed several orders regarding taking up of non-forestry activities in the National Parks/Sanctuaries. Annexure-II A may be referred to. In view of this, the State Governments should not submit any proposal for diversion of forest land in National Parks and Sanctuaries without seeking prior permission of the Indian Board for Wildlife (Now National Board of Wildlife) and Supreme Court. iv) The work of actual construction would however, fully attract the provisions of the Act and prior clearance of the Central Government must be obtained even if such work does not require felling of trees. v) “Prospecting of any Mineral, done under prospecting license granted under MMRD Act, which requires collection / removal of samples from the forest land, would be a stage between survey & investigation and grant of mining lease and as such permission under Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 would be required However, in case of metallic ores – test drilling up to 20-25 boreholes of maximum 4” dia per 10 sq km and in case of coal and lignite (non-metallic Ores) – (a) test drilling up to 15 boreholes of maximum 4” dia per 10 sq km for open cast mining; and (b) test drilling up to 20 boreholes of maximum 4” dia per 10 sq km for under-ground mining for prospecting exploration or reconnaissance operations, without felling of trees, shall not attract the provisions of the Act. In all other cases involving more number of drilling of bore holes, prior permission of Central Government under the Act would be required.”. vi) It is clarified that the permission to survey, exploration or prospection would not ipso facto imply any commitment on the part of the Central Government for diversion of forest land. Clarification: For reconnaissance operations, carried out in forest land in connection with development projects, the collection of samples from the surface in addition to drilled out material from 10 holes of 4 inch diameters per 100 sq. Kms. will not attract Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, provided that there is no felling of trees involved (MoEF’s letter No. 11-33/2004 – FC, dated- 7.6.2004).
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2) The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India had received number of representations from various Ministries and the State / UT Governments for seeking clarification in respect of norms for Survey and Investigation (Prospecting of ores) on forest land. The Ministry of Mines requested for special dispensation in the form of exemption under the provisions of guidelines 1.3 (v) of the handbook of Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 to the Geological Survey of India (GSI) on the plea that GSI's activities are of general survey nature, to be done systematically all over the Country, for locating mineralization for better land use planning.
3) The matter was referred to the Forest Advisory Committee, which listened to the presentations made by the representatives of Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Coal, GSI, Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), & Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL) highlighting their role in prospecting of mineral resources and their requirement and noted the different requirements of different organizations. The suggested modification in the guidelines by the Ministry of Mines for allowing Geo-scientific investigation by GSI and other Government agencies for prospecting exploration (G3) under prospecting license, which may involve shallow pitting, trenching and sampling, including collection of samples of rock, soil, fossils, water, stream sediment, etc., without attracting the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 provided there is no felling of trees.
4) After careful examination of the proposal and on the basis of the recommendations of the Experts and on the basis of the recommendations of the Forest Advisory Committee, the Central Government hereby conveys its approval for replacing the existing provision given under 1.3 (v) under Investigation and Survey of the Handbook of Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 - Guidelines andClarifications (up to June 2004) guidelines (circulated vide this ministry's letter of even number dated 16th December 2008) with the provision as given below:
5) Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate change government of India vide F.No 5-3/2007-FC dated 19th August 2010 had conveyed that the replacement of existing provisions under 1.3(v) under investigation and survey of hand book of forest (conservation) act ,1980-guidelines and clarifications( up to June 2004) guideline(circulated vide this ministry’s letter of even number dated 16th December 2008) with the provisions given below. “"Prospecting of any Mineral, done under prospecting license granted under MMRD Act, which requires collection/ removal of samples from the forest land, would be a stage between survey & investigation and grant of mining lease and as such permission under Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 would be required However, in case of coal, lignite and metallic ores - test drilling up to 20 boreholes of maximum 8" dia per 10 sq km and in case of non-metallic Ores excluding coal & lignite —test drilling up to 16 boreholes of maximum 66" dia per10 sq km for prospecting exploration or reconnaissance operations, without felling of trees, shall not attract the provisions of the Act. In all other cases involving more number of drilling of bore holes, prior permission of Central Government under the Act would be required".
6) The exception of applicability of FC Act, 1980 was based on recommendation of the Committee constituted for this purpose by the FAC. The Committee consisted of representatives of mineral operational corporation, representatives of CNPDI, Geological Survey of India. The Committee was added by IG (FC). The Committee was constituted on the request of various organisations involved in Survey and Exploration of minerals. The recommendation was placed before FAC and was approved by Hon’ble MEF. Further study was marked to CNPDI to undertake trial exploratory drilling to assess the impact of forest and wildlife, but no report has been submitted.
7) Later many representations were received in MoEF&CC regarding request to clarify whether drilling of shot holes for seismic survey will attracts provisions of Forest (Conservation) Act 1980.this was clarified by MoEF and CC vide letter no 11-36/2013-FC dated 03.03 2016 that among other seismic surveys will not attract the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980 as long as these surveys do not involve any clearing of forest, and operation is restricted to cleaning of bushes and lopping of tree branches for purpose of sighting.
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8) It was reported that despite this clarification, in some states, this exemption was not granted by state forest department. In this regard Director general hydrocarbon represented the issue to the MoEF&CC with Request to issue suitable clarification that seismic surveys are exempted under clause 1.3(i) of the forest conservation act 1980 guidelines and that the state forest department should give necessary permissions for conducting seismic surveys.
9) PCCF, Telangana vide their letter no. 18643/2015-FCA dated 06.06.2016 at point no. 3 had highlighted that there in the clarification dated 03.03.2016, there is mention of shot holes in the subject but in the conclusion there is no permissibility of shot holes nor the number of shot holes. The guideline issued in chapter 1.3 of the handbook are only reiterated .He pointed out that there is no explicit mention of number of shot holes permissible like the permissible number of boreholes mentioned in the guidelines issued in case of test drilling permissible for prospecting of minerals.
10) PCCF Telangana vide his reference dated 6.6.16 had requested MoEF&CC to issue clarification on the number of shot holes permissible in seismic surveys and also to clarify whether the UA shall submit the form C proposals.
11) By the communication dated 02.03.2017 the DGH had informed that because of above stated confusion some states like Telengana and Andhra Pradesh are not allowing them for seismic survey and insisting for filing online application in Form-C for exploration. He had requested to kindly issue suitable clarification that seismic surveys are exempted under clause 1.3(i) of forest conservation act 1980 guidelines and that the state forest department should give necessary permissions for conducting seismic surveys I. Without insisting on submission of information in Form C II. Without restriction regarding number of shot holes III. Allowing drilling of shot holes and blasting of seismic source (explosives) in addition to allowing clearing of bushes and lopping of tree branches for purpose of sighting. 12) The matter has been re-examined by the FC Division in light of the guideline 1.3 for Investigation and survey under FC Act.
13) It is important to note that the guideline 1.3(1) applies to the investigations and surveys carried out in connection with development projects such as transmission lines, hydroelectric projects, seismic surveys do not involve any clearing of forest or cutting of trees, and operations are restricted to clearing of bushes and lopping of tree branches for purpose of sighting.
14) It is pertinent to understand the process of seismic survey which has been examined and explained below: Seismic Survey: A seismic survey is conducted by creating a shock wave – a seismic wave – on the surface of the ground along a predetermined line, using an energy source. The seismic wave travels into the earth, is reflected by subsurface formations, and returns to the surface where it is recorded by receivers called geophones – similar to microphones. The seismic waves are created either by small explosive charges set off in shallow holes (“shot holes“) or by large vehicles equipped with heave plates (“Veibroseis” trucks) that vibrate on the ground. By analyzing the time it takes for the seismic waves to reflect off of subsurface formations and return to the surface, a geophysicist can map subsurface formations and anomalies and predict where oil or gas may be trapped in sufficient quantities for exploration activities. Until relatively recently, seismic surveys were conducted along a single line on the ground, and their analysis created a two-dimensional picture akin to a slice through the earth beneath that line, showing the subsurface geology along that line. This is referred to as two-dimensional or 2D seismic data. Currently, almost all oil and gas exploratory wells are preceded by 3-D seismic surveys. The basic method of testing is the same as for 2D, but instead of a single line of energy source points and receiver points, the source points and receiver points are laid out in a grid across the property. The resulting recorded reflections received at each receiver point come from all directions, and sophisticated computer programs can analyze this data to create a three-dimensional image of the subsurface.
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3D surveys can be conducted in almost any environment – in the ocean, in swamps, in land mass areas including forests. A 3D seismic survey may cover many square kilometer of land. Data for3D surveys are acquired by laying out energy source points and receiver points in a grid over the area to be surveyed. The receiver points – to record the reflected vibrations from the source points – are laid down in parallel lines (receiver lines), and the source points are laid out in parallel lines that are approximately perpendicular to the receiver lines. The spacing of the source and receiver points is determined by the design and objectives of the survey. They may be as close as 50-60 meters. In on-shore data acquisition, such as forest land, the energy source for a seismic survey is Vibroseis or an explosive charge, generally some form of dynamite or an explosive product called primacord (Primacord is a brand of detonating cord used in blasting). A Vibroseis truck has a large metal plate under the center of the truck body that is lowered onto the ground so that the entire weight of the truck is on the plate. The plate is then caused to vibrate at a specified power and frequency, creating seismic waves that travel into the ground. A single vibrator truck can generate more than 40,000 pounds of ground force, and usually four or five trucks are clustered together to create the energy at each source point, creating a combined ground force of 150,000 to 200,000 pounds. If the energy source is an explosive charge, the charge is usually set of in a hole between 10 and 150 feet deep, drilled for that purpose. The charge is a specified number of pounds of explosive – from 2 to 50 pounds, depending on the depth of the hole. The area covered by the 3D grid must be larger than the subsurface area to be imaged, in order to acquire sufficient data for the area of interest. 3D surveys commonly cover 50 to 100 square miles or more. It is clear that the 3-D seismic survey inside a forest area requires large number of shallow holes (shot holes) at predetermined grid pattern. The distance between shot holes may be as close as 50-60 meters. This means about 4 holes per hectare or 400 shot holes per sq.kilometre on predetermined grid are dug by the oil exploration company. 15) This density of shot holes is much more than the prescribed limit for exemption under guidelines 1.3(v). This will certainly affect the forest and wildlife in the forest.Earlier 2D seismic surveys was conducted along a single line on the ground, and their analysis created a two-dimensional picture and caused less damage to the forest.
16) A meeting was held with the officers representing Director General, Hydrocarbon on 06.04.2017 in the Chamber of IGF (FC). The representative of DGH informed that they are carrying out only 2-D Seismic surveys and 3-D Seismic surveys are resorted only when a details investigation is required. It was also informed that 3-D Seismic surveys are more intensive. They informed that as per guideline 1.3 (i) had allowed Seismic surveys to be done without FC clearance but is silent on lying of cables and sensors, allowing drilling of short holes and blasting of seismic source etc.
17) The letter of DGH dated 06.04.2017 bearing GDA no. 14011(13)/1/2016-DGH was handed over to the undersign by the Officers in the meeting. In his letter following points, in response to the quarrying raised by PCCF, Telangana has been submitted.
Laying out of cables, Geophones, Drilling and blasting of shot holes is an integral part of seismic survey. The number of shot holes required to be drilled is a variable, which depends on factors like geological complexities, technical objectives and type of survey technology e.g. 2D or 3D. The drilling of shot holes is carried out normally by portable drilling devices (which are not shifted through vehicles) in forest areas which do not require felling of any trees and is therefore more environment friendly method. The proposed seismic survey will not involve taking up of soil samples, as in case of minerals. During the course of seismic data acquisition i.e. blasting of explosives in shot holes at depths varying between 20-40 meters, damage to environment in general is minimal and is a temporary short term effect. The adverse effects if any are reversed by nature very rapidly.
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The blasting is done inside shot holes at a depth of more than 20 m after tamping the explosive by mud or dust, there is no cracking noise pollution and no panic for the living beings in the forest. The debris generated during the drilling of shot holes is largely used for refilling of these holes after recording of data and as such these shot holes are immediately filled up. The survey operations are completed during time to avoid any disturbance in the area at night time. Use of other technologies like air gun (applicable in offshore only), thumper truck and seismic vibrator are all truck mounted devices which require movement in straight line. Therefore, these technologies are not utilized in forest areas in present survey by the service providers.
18) On perusal of Note sheet pertaining to clarification dated 03.03.2016 The detail about seismic surveys is taken on record prior to sending clarification on drilling of shot holes for seismic surveys.
19) In the meeting it was informed that in 2D seismic survey shot holes of 6 inch diameter are laid in a straight line at a distance of 60 meter and the grid is at a distance of 20 km.
20) Taking the calarifiaction mentioned at point no 15 above into consideration it was observed that the number of bore holes required in seismic surveys are with inyhe limits prescribed in F.No 5-3/2007-FC dated 19th August 2010.
21) As per the request of PCCF Telangana, DGH and discussion with the Officers representing DGH, a decision was taken on the file to issue following clarification in continuation of this ministry’s letter of even number dated 03.03.2016 to provide immediate relief for the hydrocarbon exploration in the country by issuing following clarifications vide F.No 11-36/2013-FC dated 3rd May 2017 That seismic surveys for oil and gas exploration which require use of small explosive material specific to seismic survey for purpose of energy generation in shot holes in forest land will not attracts the provisions of Forest (Conservation) Act Provided that these surveys do not involve any clearing of forest, and operation are restricted to cleaning of bushes and lopping of trees branches for purpose of sighting and the density of shot hole for such seismic survey is restricted up to 16 boreholes of maximum 6.6” diameter per 10 sq km. The clarification issued by MoEF and CC related to shot holes vide later 11-36/2013-FC dated 03.03 2016 and 11-36/2013-FC dated 3rd May 2017 may be placed before FAC for ratification and further modification ****
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Naresh Kumar, DIGF (FC) Agenda No. 1 F. No. 7-79/2017-FC Sub: Request for Exemption of NPV as per order dated 5/10/2015 passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in I.A No. 2666/2009 in W.P. (C) No. 202/1995 titled T.N. GodavarmanThirumalpad vs. Union of India and Others – reg.
MOEF&CC vide letter dated 24.05.2016(F/X) and 25.08.2017 (F/Y) had requested the State of Madhya Pradesh to represent their case before the competent authority of this Ministry so that a fair and lawful decision can be taken in the matter pertaining to exemption of NPV as per order dated 05/10/2015 passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. However, there is no response from the State of Orissa as of date.
The facts submitted by the Applicant in I. A. No. 2666 of 2009 are as under:
1. The Applicant seeks exemption from payment of NPV for construction of rural roads under Pradhan MantriGraminYojna (Hereinafter being referred to as “PMGSY”) and for granting permission to construct Rural roads in protected and reserved forest areas in Madhya Pradesh.
2. The PMGSY was launched on 25th December, 2000 as a 100% Centrally Sponsored Scheme to provide all- weather road connectivity in rural areas of the country. The PMGSY envisages connecting all unconnected habitations with a population of 500 plus in the plain areas and 250 plus in hilly and tribal areas and substantial population of the tribal areas will be benefited by these roads.
3. The Applicant submits that the committee on NPV made recommendations regarding exemption of the activities/projects from payment of NPV. The recommendations focus around infrastructure and basic services like village tanks, drinking water pipelines, electricity lines in rural areas like community centers have also been included in the category of exemptions.
4. That in order to provide road connectivity to habitations in remote areas, it is sometimes required to construct new roads or upgrade the existing roads or portion thereof through the forests. It is required to obtain the forest clearance under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and its subsequent amendments for the constructions of the new roads.
5. The order dated 28th March 2008 passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court directs payment of NPV for using forest land and the said order concludes with certain categories (ten) exempted from payment of NPV rates for three years and subject to variation thereafter.
6. Subsequently, the Hon’ble Supreme Court vide order dated 9th May 2008 modified its earlier order dated 28th March 2008 in lieu of some typographical mistakes.
7. The Hon’ble Supreme Court vide order dated 9th May 2008 deleted the exemption on payment of NPV in case of villages roads which had been allowed vide the earlier order dated 28th March 2008.
8. That in Madhya Pradesh under the PMGSY presently 117 roads are required to be constructed wherein a part or full portion of land of reserved or protected forest is involved.
9. That construction of new roads/upgradation of existing roads under PMGSY brings many socioeconomic benefits to the rural population and therefore is in national interest.
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10. That ‘Rural Roads’ being a State subject, projects under PMGSY are executed by State/UT Governments through their agencies, i.e. SRRDA (State Rural Roads Development Agency) for monitoring, financial management and coordination at the State Level and Programme Implementation Units (PIUs) for Programmme Implementation at the District level.
11. The applicant has stated that if the alleged amount of NPV will be allowed to be paid, then it will cause heavy burden on the State exchequer, and it will be difficult to execute the programme.
12. The Present Application has been filed for seeking indulgence of the Hon’ble Supreme Court to review/modify the order dated 9th May 2008.
13. The Applicant has prayed for grant of exemption from the payment of NPV for construction of rural roads under PMGSY where either in part or in full forest land (Protected or Reserved) is involved.
The CEC in compliance to the Hon’ble Court’s order dated 06.11.2009 filed its report dated 22nd February 2010 in the present matter. The observations made by the CEC inter-alia are as follows:
Recommendation of the CEC
“8. In the above background the CEC reiterates the recommendations made by it in its Report dated 29th September, 2009 in IA No. 2506 of 2009 filed by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India seeking exemption from the payment of the NPV for the forest land diverted for construction of rural roads including in the State of Orrisa and recommends that no relief in the present IA may be granted.”
The operative part of the order dated 05/10/2015 passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India passed in W.P (C) No. 202/1995 is produced as under:
“CATEGORY – III: MATTERS RELATING TO EXEMPTIONS FROM THE PAYMENT OF THE NPV: Various applications have been filed by different applicants to exempt them from payment of Net Present Value (‘NPV.). Now all those applications will be transferred to MoEFCC by the Registry within 45 days’ time from today. The MoEFCC will consider those applications in accordance with law as expeditiously as possible. If, for any reason, any person is aggrieved by the said decision, he shall be free to file an appropriate applications/ petition before the National Green Tribunal ‘NGT’) within 60 days’ time from the date of the order passed by the MoEFCC.
Liberty is reserved to NGT to condone the delay, if any, in approaching it within the time granted by us if a satisfactory explanation is offered by the applicant/petitioner.
With the aforesaid observation and directions, we dispose of the Interlocutory Applications/maters specified in Annexure – III to the note supplied by Shri Harish Salve, learned amicus curiae.”
The matter was considered by the FAC in its meeting held on 30.08.2017 and FAC studied of CEC on this matter since the applicant was not present it was decided to issue notice to the applicant in this case and list the matter in the Next FAC meeting for consideration again.
A copy of the minutes of FAC placed at F/x.
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In view of the observation made by FAC in its meeting held on 30.08.2017, the chief executive officer, M.P. Rural Department Authority is requested to depute one representative well conversant with the matter to present before FAC 16th November 2017. Accordingly draft for approval. ****
Agenda No. 2 F. No. 7-78/2017-FC Sub: Request for Exemption of NPV as per order dated 5/10/2015 passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in I.A. No. 2863-64/2010 in W.P. (C) No. 202/1995 titled T.N. GodavarmanThirumalpad vs. Union of India and Others – reg.
MOEF&CC has vide letter dated 24.05.2016 (F/X) and 25.08.2017 (F/X) requested the Sh. Lokanadha Naidu S/o Sh. Doraswami Naidu M/s Tirumala granite, Sed No. 3 Industrial Estate, Chitoor, Hyderabad to represent their case before the competent authority of this Ministry so that a fair and lawful decision can be taken in the matter pertaining to exemption of NPV as per order dated 05/10/2015 passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. However, there is no response from the State of Orissa as of date.
The facts submitted by the Applicant in I. A. No. 2863-64 of 2010 are as under:
1. The Applicant has filed the Present application for clarification and direction of this Hon’ble court pertaining to Applicant’s lease hold land situated at gape area of Patrapalli village and Vottivaripalli village in YadmariMandalChittor district, which has been renamed as compartment No.217 & 218 of Veerasettipalli “B” “RF” Chittoor by the State of Andhra Pradesh imposing forest act provision without having any notification for that area that is also under political and business pressure.
2. The applicant has been running his proprietorship export business of black granite stone under name and style “M/s Tirumala granite at Shed No.3, Industrial Estate, Chitoor Andhra Pradesh India. The abovesaid area was a hill area having rich black granite rock with no tree even grass root. This area is known as “Gap area” as it is between the village and boundary line of the reserve forest area Chittoor West.
3. That the Applicant is stating that the area in question cannot be accepted as reserve forest area and the respondent has no legal right to impose any cost or penalty in the name of reserved forest area. It it further stated by the applicant that this land belong to the two village and has been defined a gap area since very beginning.
4. That in the month of January 1996 applicant applied for 5 Ha. Hill area/land for black granite mining. The Department of mines and Zeology requested forest department to provide their report about the location of the area. After inspection it was found in the DFO’s report dated 30.08.1996 that the lease hold land area was out of the forest area but under political pressure it has been renamed as compartment.
5. The Applicant is further stating that the said area neither is a forest area nor come within any notification of the State of Andhra Pradesh U/s-3 of the forest Act, therefore the Applicant does not come within the provision of the forest act and should not be compelled to pay any cost/levy under the new name of reserve forest area.
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6. That matter came up in theHon’ble Supreme Court vide order dated 19.03.2001 in SLP No.18786 of 2001 and directed that petitioner application be decided a fresh as and when will be submitted with further observation that no mining operation in a reserved forest can be carried out without express prior permission of the Central Govt.
7. That the petitioner filed his fresh application for mining right for 8 Ha. for the same hill area land situated which was considered and the State Govt. Leased out only 6.10 Ha. It is further stated that on 04.10.2002 Central Govt. Approved/permitted diversion 6.10 of forest land with conditions subject to final approval and further asked State Govt. to file revised map of the said forest area for 6.10 Ha. to their office. The Govt. of India vide letter dated 21.01.2003 accorded Stage-II approval.
8. That till date of filing the present petition State of Andhra Pradesh has not published any Notification U/s 3 of the forest act.
9. The Applicant has inter-alia prayed for; (i) Direction declaring Applicant’s lease hold land 6.10 Ha. situated in the gap area of Patrapalli village and Vottivaripalli village in YadmariMandalChittor district, which has been renamed as compartment No.217 & 218 of Veerasettipalli “B” “RF” Chittoor, does not come within the provision of the Indian Forest Act.
(ii) The Applicant has prayed for direction declaring that the area in question does not attract order/direction of this Hon’ble Court passed in I.A. no.566 of 2002 in W.P. No. 202 of 1995.
(iii) Be further pleased to declare that Applicant is entitled to keep continue his mining lease permission as valid till 14.02.2023 in the area in question.
(iv) Be pleased to set aside all action/orders against the Applicant, if any, what respondent have already done in the name of reserved forest area upon the Applicant.
The operative part of the order dated 05/10/2015 passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India passed in W.P (C) No. 202/1995 is produced as under:
“CATEGORY – III: MATTERS RELATING TO EXEMPTIONS FROM THE PAYMENT OF THE NPV: Various applications have been filed by different applicants to exempt them from payment of Net Present Value (‘NPV.). Now all those applications will be transferred to MoEFCC by the Registry within 45 days’ time from today. The MoEFCC will consider those applications in accordance with law as expeditiously as possible. If, for any reason, any person is aggrieved by the said decision, he shall be free to file an appropriate applications/ petition before the National Green Tribunal ‘NGT’) within 60 days’ time from the date of the order passed by the MoEFCC.
Liberty is reserved to NGT to condone the delay, if any, in approaching it within the time granted by us if a satisfactory explanation is offered by the applicant/petitioner.
With the aforesaid observation and directions, we dispose of the Interlocutory Applications/maters specified in Annexure – III to the note supplied by Shri Harish Salve, learned amicus curiae.”
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It is important to mention here that the CEC Report is not available in the present matter.
The matter was considered by the FAC in its meeting held on 30.08.2017, Sh. R. Lokanadha Naidu M/s Tirumalu Granite, Chitoor.
A copy of the minutes of FAC meeting is placed below at (F/x)
We may keeping in view the observation of FAC, We may set the letter to concerned user agency informing them that their matter, would be placed before FAC on 16th November, 2017.
They may be requested to depute their representative for presenting their case before FAC a draft of approved is placed.
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Agenda No. 3 F. No. 7-80/2017-FC Sub : Request for exemption of NPV as per order dated 05/10/2015 passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in I. A. No. 2388 of 2008 in W.P. (Civil) No. 202/1995 in the matter titled as T. N Godavarman vs. Union of India and in the matter of State of Jharkhand – reg.
MOEF&CC has vide letter dated 12.05.2016 (F/X) requested the State of Jharkhand to represent their case before the competent authority of this Ministry so that a fair and lawful decision can be taken in the matter pertaining to exemption of NPV as per order dated 05/10/2015 passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. However, there is no response from the Applicant, State of Jharkhand as of date. Accordingly, this Ministry has once again vide e-mail dated 25th August 2017 requested State of Jharkhandto represent their case before FAC meeting dated 30th August 2017 in order to arrive at an appropriate decision. The copy of the e-mail is enclosed at F/A.
The facts submitted by the Applicant in I. A. No. 2388 of 2008are as under:
1. The Govt. of India has approved a new scheme i.e. Rajiv Gandhi VidyutikaranYojana Scheme for rural electricity infrastructure and house hold electrification (a Central Govt. sponsored scheme). 2. The said scheme is to be implemented through Rural Electrification Corporation. 3. Under the said scheme, non-electrified villages and non-electrified hamlets of electrified villages out of all the districts of Jharkhand are to be electrified. 4. There are about 24 districts which are to be electrified within the State of Jharkhand by laying out transmission lines. The transmission lines are also to be laid through some forest/waste land recorded as Jungle Jhari in the revenue records. 5. Under the said scheme 90% amount is to be borne by the Central Govt. as subsidy and balance 10% is to be given to the State Govt. be the Central Govt. as loan. 6. That for the implementation of the said scheme approximately 3200 Ha. of forest land will be used. 7. That it is not possible to avoid the forest land for laying out transmission line because approximately 38% of the geographical area of the State falls under the forest. 8. That survey has been conducted in the districts of Dhanbad, Koderma and Bokaro regarding the status of use of forest land while for other districts, survey is in progress. The Regional Office Bhubaneswar of MOEF&CC has accorded Stage-I clearance to some of the blocks in these districts. 9. The Applicant, State of Jharkhand has inter-aliastressed that the said scheme is not of commercial nature, it isa public welfare scheme important for the all-round development of the villages within the
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State of Jharkhand, it will uplift the livelihood of the poor residing within the State and the State of Jharkhand is different from other States as it has a major chunk of unelectrified areas. 10. In view of the aforementioned facts and circumstances, the Applicant, State of Jharkhandas per the Hon’ble Supreme Court order dated 28th March 2008 and 9th May 2008 in W.P (C) No. 202/1995has prayed for exemption from payment of NPV and compensatory afforestation cost so that the said scheme be implemented within the fixed time frame and the large population of the State of Jharkhand get benefit from the said scheme.
The CEC in compliance to the Hon’ble Court’s order dated 24.10.2008 filed its report dated 29thSeptember 2009 in the present matter. The observations made by the CEC are as follows:
“5. This Hon’ble Court by order dated 28.03.2008 and 9.5.2008 has prescribed the rates of NPV for the forest area falling in the different eco classes and the different density classed and has exempted certain category of projects from the payment of the NPV. Pursuant to the above orders of this Hon’ble Court, transmission / distribution lines upto 22 KV are exempted from the payment of the NPV provided the forest area required is upto 1 Hectare and no felling of tree is involved. While issuing the above orders, the issue regarding the general exemption of transmission lines and distribution lines from the payment of the NPV was examined in detail and was not accepted by this Hon’ble Court.
6. The CEC is of the view that this Hon’ble Court’s orders dated 28.3.2008 and 9.5.2008 regarding NPV have been issued after detailed examination of all the relevant issues and do not need any modification. In the present case, as per the Applicant State, use of about 16,500 Hecatres of forest area is involved. Instead of seeking exemption from the payment of the NPV, it would be appropriate that the State of Jharkhand, wherever possible, identifies the alternate routes for laying of the electric lines so that the use of forest land can be avoided to the maximum possible extent. Any general exemptionfrom the payment of the NPV for the use of the forest land in the State of Jharkhand for the laying of the transmission lines is bound to lead to demand for similar exemption from the other States and also for other Government projects particularly as the grounds on which the exemption has been sought in the present case are equally applicable to the other Centrally Sponsored Schemes and Government projects.”
Recommendation of the CEC
“In view of the above it is recommended that the request made by the State of Jharkhand for exemption from the payment of the NPVfor the use of forest land for laying of the transmission lines under the Rajiv Gandhi GraminVidyutikaranYojna Scheme may not be accepted.”
The order datedv5th October 2015, 28th March 2008 and 9th May 2008 in W.P (C) No. 202/1995passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India are enclosed at F/B, F/C and F/D respectively.
The matter was consider by the FAC in its meeting held on 30.08.2017. PCCF, Jharkhand state govt of Jharkhand.
A copy of Minutes of FAC placed at (F/x)
We may keeping in view the observation of FAC, we may sent the letter to concerned user agency informing them that their matter, would be placed before FAC on 16th November 2017.
They may be requested to depute their representative for presenting their case before FAC of draft approval is placed.
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This matter is related to exemption of NPV for use of forest land under Rajiv Gandhi Gram Vidyutikran Yojna in state of Jharkhand. We may send request letter to Principal Secretary Energy Department, Govt of Jharkhand to represent this matter through his representative. A draft letter is put up for approval.
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