F. No. 8-60/2010-FC
Diversion of 512.43 ha of forest land for Ghatkuri Iron Ore mining lease project in favour of M/s Jindal Steel & Power Limited in Saranda Forest Division in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand.
FACT SHEET
1. Diversion of 512.43 ha of forest land for Ghatkuri Iron Name of the Proposal Ore mining lease project in favour of M/s Jindal Steel & Power Limited in Saranda Forest Division in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. 2. Location i) State Jharkhand ii) District West Singhbhum 3. Particulars of Forests a) Name of Forest Division Saranda Forest Division b) Forest area involved 510.43 Ha.(within ML) + 2.13 Ha. (outside Lease Area ) = 512.56 Ha. c) Legal Status/Sy. No Reserve Forests 356.62 ha (G-13,14,15 & 17) Protected Forests 180.68 ha (parts of G 13, 14 & 17.
d) Map Enclosed. Falling in Toposheet No.-73F/7 (p 543/c) 4. Topography of the area The proposed area is having undulating hilly terrain with moderate to steep slope covered completely with tree as well as ground vegetation. If canopy is opened make the area prone to soil erosion and it is obligatory to take yup soil conservation work to check soils erosion (P 130/c).
5. (i) Vegetation The forest is a tropical Moist Deciduous P{eninsular Sal Forest comprising around 30-35 % of quality sal. The top canopy is mostly sal, the middle and lower canopy is of miscellaneous species. The proposed area is virgin and has vast floral diversity.
Abstract of species is enclosed at p 513-515/c.
Canopy is dense with sal forming the top canopy. There are large numbers of trees belonging to pole crop having dbh less than 30 cm. there are few open spaces in the proposed area (p 129/c).
(ii) No. of trees which will 87095 Nos. (Based on sample tree enumeration- be affected 8666 trees in 51 hects.). Maximum number of affected trees falls in below 30 cm girth category (p 3/c).
(iii) Density Average density 0.5 to 0.7.
(iv) Approximate dstance of The proposed area falls within the parts of Ghatkuri mining from the forests R.F. Kasiapecha P.F. and Nuia P.F. surrounded by boundary the Forest Compartment no. G-13, G-14, G-15, G- 17, Kasiapecha P.F. XXVI and Nuia P.F.
6. Whether area is significant The entire forests of Saranda Forest Division from wildlife point of view including the propsed mining lease area have been notified as Core Area of Singhbhum Elephant reserve. The Saranda forest is considered to be one of the finest habitat for elephants and houses a large population of Asiatic elephants. The user agency undertakes to implement a planed scheme for protection of wildlife and forest to mitigate the ill effects due to mining which is being submitted along with the proposal for approval (P 517-542/c).
7. Whether any rare/endangered Indian Elephant, Giant Squirrel, reptile, Sloth beer, unique species of flora and barking Deer, etc. have been reported in the area. fauna found in the area-if so details thereof.
Whether any violation of the No. FC act has been reported 7. Compensatory Afforestation Entire CA area has not been identified. The user (CA) agency has informed that they have identified 1400 acres of forest land. Out of which 650 acres of land has been mutated in favour of company and remaining land is under various stages of acquisition.
Around 163.22 acres of land in village Heisa, Thana is under illegal encroachment.
The user agency vide their letter dated 1.12.2011 has submitted to provide 1266.21 acres of land, free of encumbrances after Stage-I clearances.
CA is proposed-1273.55 acres in 12 Villages-7 District, in Jharkhand State.
The detailed scheme of of site specific CA along with the estimate prepared by the Concerned DFO will be submitted after the Stage-I clearance (131/c).
8. Catchment Area Treatment Not Applicable
Mining Plan Mining Plan along with Progressive mine Closure Plan is approved by the Indian Bureau of Mines (P 182/c) and is enclosed at p 185-290/c.
9. Proposed Land Use Pattern of the Mining Project: a Mining excavation 323.18 b ROM stack for uncrushed ore 3.04 Low-grade mineral stacking c 15.78 for future use / blending Top soil stack yard for use in d 2.00 plantation e Dumping of O.B /Waste 36.15 Water reservoir for rain water f 2.2 harvesting g Settling tank & silt check dam 1.8 h Rest shelter & First Aid station 2.1 i Ore fines dumps 30.1 j Crushed ore stack 1.0 k Construction of mine roads. 15.10 l Magazine with safety zone 5.00 Mobile & fixed Crushing & m Screening plant, stores, repair 13.04 shop etc Laboratory, power house & n 1.72 site office o Exploration equipment shed 0.61 Administrative office, canteen, STP, security, work shop p garage for HEMM, HSD store, 2.84 oil trap, substation, weigh bridge and First Aid Room q Conveyor corridor 0.3 Land for future use in mining r 54.47 related activities s Green Belt 26.57 TOTAL 537.00 10. Rehabilitation of Oustees Nil 11. Cost Benefit Ratio 1:7.29 (P 151-157/c) 12. Recommendation i) Yes i. DFO ii) Yes ii. PCCF iii) Yes iii. State Government 13. District Profile (i) Total Geographical area 9907 Square KM as per FSI (ii) Total forest area 3727 Square KM as per FSI Divisional forest area (iii) Total area diverted since 1898.8398 Hect. 1980 (v) Total CA stipulated since 1980 (as on 30.11.2008)
(a) Forest Land 248.09 ha (b) Non-Forest land 658.972 Ha.
Other details:
1. The user agency has submitted an undertaking to deposit NPV for diverted forest land.
2. The user agency has submitted an undertaking to bear the cost of CA
3. The has submitted undertaking to bear the cost of preparation and implementation of Integrated Wild life Management Plan being prepared by Dept of Forest, GoJ on proportionate basis
4. The Ore transportation has been planned as by pipe conveyor from mines to railway siding 5 kms away and then by rail route.
5. The mining plan has approved by IBM. The Mineable reserve is about 90 Million tones.
6. NOC under FRA, 2006, has been obtained from DC, West Singhbhum.
SITE INSPECTION REPORT
The site inspection for the diversion of 512.56 ha of forest land for Ghatkuri iron ore mines in Saranda Forest Division of M/s Jindal Steel & Power ltd. was carried out on 10- 11.05.2011 alongwith Shri Jitendra Prasad, A.C.F. Shri Bhuvan Mahto, Range Officer, all from the forest department and Shri Mahesh Raheja, Sr. G.M. JSPL, Shri J. Mahanta, DGM, JSPL Shri Sidharth Rakshit, AGM, JSPL Shri Mukesh Kumar Singh, Dy. Manager, JSL, all from the UA.
On 6th July, 2011 we visited the proposed CA site at Banjhi Tola of Village – Hesla, Anchal – Chandva, District – Latehar of area 163.22 acre under Latehar forest division alongwith Shri MadhuDFO, the local Range Officer from UA side Shri Mahesh Raheja, Sr. G.M. JSPL, Shri J. Mahanta, DGM, JSPL etc.
We were kidnapped by the Maoists from that village and taken to the denser forest and detained for more than seven hours and were released after 6 p.m.
1. Legal status of the forest land proposed for diversion
Reserve forest and protected forest.
2. Item-wise breakup details of the forest land proposed for diversion:
Proposed land use pattern Jeraldaburu iron ore mining lease area is as follows:
Sl. Pattern of utilization Area Area Non Total land No. in ha within outside forest lease lease land 1. Mining excavation 323.18 323.18 2. ROM stack for 3.04 3.04 uncrushed ore 3. Low grade mining 15.78 15.78 stacking for future use/blending 4. Top soil stack yard for 2.00 2.00 use in plantation 5. Dumping of OB/waste 36.15 36.15 6. Water reservoir for rain 2.2 2.2 water harvesting 7. Settling tank and silt 1.8 1.8 check dam 8. Rest shelter & first aid 2.1 2.1 station 9. Ore finds stack with 3 30.1 30.1 retaining walls and garland drains 10. Crushed ore stack 1.0 1.0 11. Construction of mine 15.10 15.10 roads 12. Magazine with safety 5.00 5.00 zone 13. Mobile & fixed 13.04 13.04 crushing and screening plant, stores, repair shop, etc. 14. Laboratory, power 1.72 1.72 house and site office 15. Exploration equipment 0.61 0.61 shed
16. Administrative office, 2.84 2.84 canteen, STP, security, work shop garage for HEMM, HSD store, oil trap, substation, weigh bridge and first aid room 17. Conveyor corridor 0.3 2.13 1,376 3,806 18. Land for future use in 54.47 54.47 mining Total 510.43 2.13 1.376 513.936 19. Safety zone to be 26.57 26.7 maintained as Green belt Total 537.00 2.13 1.376 540.506
Note : the PCCF vide his letter No.22(P) 2(2) 8/2010-3132 dated 19.8.2011 informed that the area is 512.56 not 512.43 which is a typological mistake (copy enclosed as annexure 1).
3. Whether proposal involves any construction of buildings (including residential or not. If yes, details thereof.
As mentioned at point no. 2 above.
4. Total cost of the project at present rates:
Total expected project cost of Rs.500 crores.
5. Wildlife:
Whether forest area proposed for diversion is important from wildlife point of view or not:
As per the DFO in part II, the entire forest of Saranda Forest Division including the proposed mining lease area has been notified as core area of Singhbhum Elephant Reserve vide notification No.72/2000 P.E. dated 24.03.2011.
The PCCF informed that the proposed area is located within the core area of elephant reserve.
The Saranda Forest is considered to be one of the finest habitats for elephants. Indian elephant, Giant Squirrel, Reptile, Sloth Beer, Wild Boar, Barking Deer, etc. have been reported in the area as per report of the DFO in Part II.
The PCCF also informed that eh area is rich in biodiversity, 107 varieties of tree species were found in the sample plot.
6. Vegetation:
As per the proposed at part II, canopy is dense with sal generally forming the top canopy. The average density is between 0.5-0.7. some par the forest is very dense as mentioned by the PCCF.
Difference places were visited.
The State Highway No.51 runs from south to North (Gua to Manoharpur) on the eastern boundary of the lease. The road is presently active over which the iron loaded truckes are plying. This road is a pucca road, but damaged at many places. The entire proposed area is undulating and hilly.
Towards the north eastern portion of the proposed area, the land is hilly; the slpe of the land is relatively steep.
The crop composition in this area are mixed, the trees are mainly sal, however the other trees are bar, peepal, kend, doka, kaka, galgal, karam dhwara, etc. in the upper storey. No individual species is found in majority. In the lower storey dudkorea, ber etc. are available. Siyali is the major climber. We could see big karam and kend trees. The kend trees have attained good height. On the forest floor we could see white ant mounds. In some portions towards the state highway, the slop is gentle where big sal
The slope of the land is relatively less steep, exposed rocks are few. Bahounia climbers are not many. But on the ground the bushes kend, ber, sal, satwar, etc. are found. While ant mounds are seen in this area.
Towards North West portion the tree crop comprises of mainly sal but not all the sal trees are big, rather many of the sal trees are in pole stage and the bigger sal trees are around 50-60 ft tall. Other big trees are mainly mahua, char, asan, karam, dhawra, etc. Some of the mahua trees are big. On the forest floor we could see seedlings of sal, dhudhkoreya, kend, etc. we could see white ant mounds in this portion. The soil appears to be little deep. We could see many fallen big sal logs as well as small logs in the forest floor. Few small dry nallahs are found in this area. From this potion we could see the working areas of Rungta as well as OMM minds towards south corner where a small portion of the ridge has been cleared by OMM and Rungta. The present lease of JSPL is coming up to that hill range. In the entire narrow valley portion the trees are as mentioned above, but most of the trees in the pole stage. Sal regeneration is very good.
In the same ridge where Rungta and OMM are working, the present proposal of the JSPL has been proposed in the present application portion the total ridge is covered with very good tree crops with very good density. The crop appears to be mixed as described earlier but the main crop is sal. The canopy appears to be very thick.
Another major ridge is running the central portion. The tree composition is similar. The third major ridge is towards the east. All the ridges are having very good forests. The central range portion is appeared to be totally disturbed, full with very thick vegetation, the crop is missed. In the lower foot hill portion again the crop is mixed but bigger trees are not sal always, mahua is the prominent tree, other trees are dharua, jamun, bija, etc.
Again alongside the state highway big trees of sal, asan, bija, dhawra, kandiyar, kako, mahua, karam, amla, kendu, bahuniya, panjan are generally found in large number.
7. Background note on the proposal:
M/s Jindal Steel and Power Ltd is operating 2.9 MTPA integrated steel plant and 340 MW captive power plant at Raigarh in Chhattisgarh. The company has captive iron ore mines at Tensa (Orissa) and coal mines at Raigarh. The company has signed MoUs with the Government of Jharkhand for setting up of 6 Mio. T Steel plant at Patratu (MoU dated 8.11.2007) and 5 Mio, T Steel plant at Asanboni (MoU dated 05.07.2005) in Jharkhand.
To cater to the ore requirement of these steel projects, the company has been allotted with the Jeraldaburu iron ore mining lease in Saranda Forest Division over 537 ha (Ghatkuri R.F. – 356.62 ha (Compartment G13, G14, G15 & G17) and Kashia pecha P.F. No. xxvi-180.38 ha) vide letter no. 1600/M dated 18.9.2007 for 30 years by the Govt. of Jharkhand. The M.L. area is about 7 kms from Gua railway station. There are operating mines of M/s OMM and Rungta group in the adjoining area.
The estimated iron ore reserves in the M.L. Area s about 894.4 lakh tones and the maximum annual production will be 60 lakh tones. The mine life will be 17 years. The railway siding has been proposed in Gua for transpirations of the ore.
8. Compensatory afforestation:
(a) Whether land for compensatory afforestation is suitable from plantation and management point of view or not:
Entire CA area has not been identified.
(b) Whether land for compensatory afforestation is free from encroachment/other encumbrances:
Visited CA area s stated above. The land under Hesla village has been encroached upon, people were found cultivating there. The naxals have taken control of the land and distributed the land among the villages.
Rests of the CA areas were not visited after this kidnapping incident.
(c) Whether land for compensatory afforestation is important from Religious/Archaeological point of view:
Not reported.
(d) Land identified for raising compensatory afforestation is in how many patches, whether patches are compact or not:
All the patches have not been identified.
(e) Map with details:
Full details have not been received.
(f) Total financial outlay:
Full details have not been received.
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 not reported by the DFO.
10. whether proposal involves rehabilitation of displaced persons. If yes, whether rehabilitation plan has been prepared by the state government or not:
Rehabilitation not reported.
11. Reclamation plan:
The mining plan and progressive mining closure plan have been enclosed in the proposal.
Details and financial allocation:
12. Details on Catchment and command area under the project:
Not reported, but the area should be a good catchment area of the nearby nallah system.
Catchment area treatment plan to prevent siltation of reservoir:
Not applicable.
13. Cost benefit ratio:
1:7.29
14. Recommendations of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests/State Government:
The PCCF has not specifically recommended the proposal and left the decision to the Government of India. (annexure 2)
The salient points of the recommendation of the PCF is as follows:
• Forests of Saranda are an important habitat of wild elephants and a number of elephant corridors located in this area link this habitat to the adjoining forests of Jharkhand and Orissa.
• Any increase in mining operations in this area is likely to have an adverse impact on elephants and other wild animals.
• This will required integrated and extensive mitigative measures.
• In view of the guidelines issues by the Government of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests, in case of Reserved Forests, diversion of forest land for new mining leases has not been recommended in the past. However, the applicants have informed through their letter dated 2.9.2009 that diversion of Reserve Forest land for new mining leases has been allowed by the GOI, MoEF in other states.
15. Recommendations of Chief Conservator of Forests (Central) along with detailed reasons:
Appended separately.
16. Dy. Conservator of Forests shall give detailed comments on whether there is any alternative routes/alignment for locating the project on the non-forest land:
The mine is site specific.
17. Utility of the project:
The forest will be opened up due to mining and ancillary activities, which in turn will create more roads and different employment avenues for the people.
Number of Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes to be benefited by the project:
The project will create employment for SC/ST population also.
20. Any other information relating to the project:
1. Naxal problems of CA land as well as proposed diverted land: Both the proposed diversion aea also the CA areas fall in the Maoist affected locations. In saranda where the mining is porposed has significant presence of Maoists, in Latehar districts while we are inspecting the compensatory afforestation areas were kidnapped by the Maoists. More than 20 (Twenty) heavily armed Maoists with the automatic weapons and rocket launchers cordoned us inside deep forests and detained us for more than 7 (seven) hours and released us after 6 p.m. the Naxal commander expressed concern and anguish over depriving the cultivators from the cultivation land in the name of industrialization.
During the inspection we found that the proposed CA area at Banji Tola of Hesla village was under some kind of cultivation. The habitation area of the Tola was just adjacent to the proposed CA land. It appears that the actual owner of the CA land is an absent landlord and the land has been seized by the Maoist; and they have distributed the land to common people of the village for cultivation. During the visit we found some portion of the land had been ploughed, and on some portions manuring of the field was going on. A 11 KV transmission line for rural electrification was passing through the area. The proposed CA land appears to be suitable for plantation but was under occupation of the local villages, though legally they are not the owners. During discussion with the Maoist commander it was transpired that in many areas, the right of the actual cultivators ( not legal owners) are not recognized in different Government transactions. The industries and other user agencies many a times transfer this kind of lands to the Forest Department for rising of CA and it appears that the actual field situation are not properly on many occasions and many a times fear to visit the field or stay there for longer period because of the Naxal presence. As a result when a project actually comes up in the field or land is actually transferred to the forest department, serious sociological problems crops up.
There is a provision of forest rights and meeting of Palli Sabha before department, though in a dilapidated condition if strength of front line staff position like Range Officer and ground officials below are considered, in fact I couldn’t see till then any forest guards in their twenties – actually they are mostly around fifty years of age or more; and under this circumstances they are delivering good result in Naxal affected areas, the proof is the good behavior of the Naxal commander towards the DFO and his staffs. Probably strengthening the hands of the forest department by appointing sufficient frontline staffs in ground level and providing more maneuverability in the terms of finance and administration, will probably deliver much better result at the field and probably they can win the confidence of people living in deep interior of the forest. The NREGS works, the works are now channelized to them through the forest department from the state and the result should be evaluated at the state level than the present evaluation at the district level. The policy should be there to give the requisite freedom and the power to the government department, here the forest department, whose presence is actually more visible in the field and whose sphere of work is in more cohesion with the life style of the common people in the forested areas.
2. Connectivity between the forests:
Saranda Forest is a bio diversity rich forest, considered as zenith of sal forests of India, and the present application falls in the Saranda Forest and in the application location the crop is very good, canopy is thick. The richness of Saranda forests has been described in many forestry books.
At present a very little area of the entire saranda has been cleared up for mining and the rest of the forest is very dense, virgin and very rich in bio diversity. Due to further mining the virgin areas are going to be further disturbed and there will be fragmentation of the forests, creation of forest islands in the land, forcing the wildlife to be confined to smaller and smaller entities. The forest connectivity is required for the exchange of gene pool of
wildlife; else the vitality of wild animals is confined area will be low. Since there is chance of fragmentation of further forest areas, there is a much greater need to ensure connectivity between large chunks of forests in Saranda itself, also with adjacent forested areas in Jharkhand and Orissa in general; the Saranda forests is likely to lose its distinctiveness unless properly protected and properly connected. The study on bio diversity, its conservation and propagation should be carried out by multiple expert agencies using most moden techniques from a much broader angle, instead of narrowing down to smaller locations alone. There should be proper planning to ensure proper connection between significant chunks of forests, this lease is located in the northernmost corner of different contiguous leases over continuous forest patches and the southern forest are partly distribute due to some mining as per the submitted map; and further north the non forest lands occur; so the important of this portion increases from the angle of connectivity and it should be ensured that no significant chunk of forests go without proper connection.
3. Protection of river systems:
Saranda Forest is the origins of different streams, may of them are perennial, though the volumes of water during the summer months are much less, and they mainly feed to Karo and Koena river systems. The thick vegetation of the Saranda forests facilitates good precipitation and even during the peak summer months the water is available. Due to the mining there will be destruction of some areas which may lead to shortage of water and will result in pollution of river unless proper steps are taken.
RECOMMENDATIONS OF CCF (CENTRAL):
The instant proposal is for the diversion of 998.07 ha of forest land for Iron and manganese Ore mining by M/s JSW Steel Ltd. in ankua-Hatanaburu area of Manoharpur Taluka of Saranda Forest division, West Singhbhum district, Jharkhand.
On perusing the records and the site inspection report of the Conservator of Forests, the following observations are made for consideration :
1. Fragmentation of Forest connectivity:
The Saranda Forest is endowed with pristine biodiversity having rich flora and fauna. Barring a few forest diversion, most of the Saranda forest is undisturbed yet. However, several mining proposals are in the pipeline to be operational in Saranda in the near future. Considering the rich biodiversity of the area and the pristine habitat of elephant which is also vital with reference to its strategic importance serving the interstate elephant migratory connectivity to the adjoining forests of Orissa, West Bengal and Chattisgarh, the future fragmentation of the habitat shall be the most crucial issue. It may be appropriate to conduct a interstate level study of the said forest region instead of impact study of any individual mine or group of mines to assess the impact of the upcoming non-forestry activities in the region in general and Saranda forest in particular.
2. Floral and faunal Study:
Considering the rich biodiversity and its ecological significance of the existing virgin forest cover of Saranda forest and the 0.5 to 0.7 density of the proposed site, it is also suggestd that a site specific study may be conduicted to assess the availability iof the flora and fauna in this region including the status of endemic RET and other important flora and fauna by a reputed Govt. University to submit a detail report on preservation endemic, RET and other important species for biodiversityu conservation, may be taken up/initiated, as may be deemed appropriate.
3. Water Management:
Karo and Koina are the major river system of the Saranda area and the river Karo goes nearby to which most of the nallahs in Gua area discharge their water. A lot of mining activities are proposed in the Ghatkuri range which will adversely affect the natural water resource of the area. There should be enough steps for protection of the river system, so that sufficient water is available during the lean period. All the major user agencies including the present user agency should be asked to store sufficient water in respective areas to use during the lean period and there should be no drawl of water from river system during the lean months.
4. Evacuation/transportation of iron ore :
A lot of mining and other activities are proposed in the Saranda area, the pristine forest is likely to be further fragmented and biotically pressurized by transportation and other ancillary activities. The present road network will not be able to cater to such huge transportation load in view of large scale extraction being envisaged in future. All the ore should be transported only through rail network and transpiration of the railway siding should also be permitted through closed/conveyor belt.
Road transport of coal should not be permitted under any circumstances.
5. Captive use of Mine be ensured:
100% of captive use of mine iron ore by the user agency as proposed may also be strictly ensured along with the mandatory use of ore up to 45 % Fe content.
6. Preservation of Top Soil:
The top soil should be properly preserved in sweet condition for use during phased reclamation and reafforestation.
7. Closure of Mine:
Closure of mine should be essentially focused with a mine closure plan formulated right from the beginning of the mine, so that a reasonably good/better final land use can be achieved in comparison to the original land use prior to mining. Agricultural land and forest land may be reclaimed accordingly to be maintained as such in the final land use along with creation of water bodies with due accessibility for human and wildlife to those water bodies.
8. Focusing on the Settlement of Rights of the tenants of agricultural land selected for Compensatiory Afforestation:
During the inspection of the CA site, the inspecting team along with the CF (Central) was abducted by the Naxals and was released later on, with a serious warning not to snatch agricultural land from the tenants n the name of industry. It was transpired that on many lands the owners are not actually cultivating and the tenants depend on such land for their livelihood. So before taking up any kind of land for afforestation the rights of tenants should also be settled.
9. Planting and Management of Compensatory afforestation :
Considering the quality of C.A. and its long term survival, in my considered opinion, the C.A. should be raised and maintained by the User agency for the entire life of the mining project and handed over after that to the department free from all encumbrances. The user agency will be responsible for proper maintenance and in case of failure, the mining operation can be suspended. Such areas of large size should be declared as RF only and not as PF.
With the above observations along with the fleld inspection note of CF (Central), this proposal for diversion 512.56 ha forest land for the mining project is forwarded with recommendation for consideration. *****