Agenda No. 9 F. No. 8-47/2008-FC Sub: Transfer of Lease to Investor
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Agenda No. 9 F. No. 8-47/2008-FC Sub: Transfer of lease to Investor/Power Producer from Developers in respect of diversion of 215.55 ha of forest land diverted in favour of M/s Enercon (India) Limited – regarding. 1. This relates to transfer of lease from Developers to Investors/Power Producers in respect of above proposal. Earlier, the project proponent, pending the lease transfer proposal to be submitted to this Ministry by the State Government, forwarded a copy of the lease transfer application directly to this Ministry for necessary permission in light of the provisions of the Guidelines dated 20.02.2006 issued under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. As per the facts reported in the proposal, the proposal is pending with the State Government for a period of more than 6 months while as per the provisions of existing timeline as given under Guidelines dated 20.02.2006, the same should have been forwarded to the Ministry within a period of ninety (90) days. 2. A brief background of the case is given as under: i. Proposal for diversion of 215.55 haof forest land was accorded Stage-II approval by this Ministry vide letter of even number dated 21.10.2009 inter-alia stipulating condition that ‘Other standard conditions in vogue as per this Ministry’s Guidelines issued vide letter no. 8-84/2002-FC dated 14.05.2000 for wind power projects shall also be applicable’ ii. The Guidelines dated 14.05.2000 have been issued by the MoEF streamlining the measures for dealing with the Wind Power projects. A copy of the said Guidelines is placed at F/X below. The Guidelines inter-alia stipulates as given under: The lease period initially shall be for a period of 30 years. The forest land will first be leased in favour of the developers and within a period of 4 years of State- II approval, the lease shall be transferred in the name of investors/power produces. In case the developers fail to develop wind farms, the land shall be reverted back to Forest Department without any compensation. iii. In view of the above provision contained in the Guidelines dated 14.05.2000, it was indicated by the project proponent that they have submitted the proposal for lease transfer in favour of M/s EN Renewable Energy Limited to the State Government of Karnataka vide their letter dated 31.07.2013.The proposal of the project proponent, as reported by the projet proponent, is still pending with the State Government for a period of more than 6 months. iv. Given the circumstances of the pendency of the lease transfer proposal of the project proponent in the State Government, the project proponent had referred to the Guidelines dated 20.02.2006 (F/Y) which are reproduced as under: “For cases of transfer of lease from the developer, i.e. the user Agency to investor/power producer under clause 3 (v) of the guidelines issued vide letter no. 8-84/2002-FC dated 14.05.2004 in respect of utilization of wind energy, the user agency shall submit the details in the format prescribed in this regard (enclosed) to the Nodal Officer, Forest (Conservation) Act. 1980, of the State/Union Territory, with a copy marked to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi. The Nodal Officer shall complete the examination of the particulars furnished by the user agency in the said format within a period of forty five (45) days w.e.f. the date of submission of the application and forward it to the State/Union Territory Government. The State/Union Territory Government shall forward its recommendations within forty five (45) days to the Central Government for consideration. If no decision is communicated by the State/Union Territory on the proposal till the expiry of a period of ninety (90) days w.e.f. the date of submission of the proposal, action as considered appropriate, shall be initiated by the Central Government”. v. Keeping in view the direction contained in the above Guidelines, the project proponent has requested this Ministry to consider their proposal of lease transfer and accord approval of the Central Government. The project proponent has forwarded a copy of the proposal wherein the project proponent (Developer) has proposed to transfer 86.849 ha of forest land in favour of M/s EN Renewable Energy (Investor/Power Producer) to this Ministry. The project proponent has submitted the requisite documents as given under: i. The project proponent and investors/power developers have submitted NOC for lease transfer. ii. The investors/power producers have submitted undertaking to comply with all the conditions stipulated by the Central Government in final approval dated 23.04.2001 (p 439/c) iii. The relevant documents like MoU for lease transfer, application, details duly shown in maps, etc. have been submitted by the project proponent. 3. After examination of the matter in the Ministry, it was decided that it would be appropriate to obtain the comments of the State Government within a stipulated period and in case the comments of the State Government are not received within the specified period, the same may be treated by the Ministry as the State Government has no comments to offer on the proposal. Accordingly, this Ministry vide its letter dated 12.02.2014 (Pg 448/c) has requested the State Government to forward the proposal of the project proponent for transfer of lease in favor of Investors/Power Producers. 4. State Government has submitted their observation vide their letter dated 01st April, 2015 and has submitted as follows:- (i) PCCF(HoFF), Aranya Bhavan, Bangalore has submitted the proposal vide reference dated 24.02.2015 for transfer of forest land leased to M/s Enercon (India) Ltd., (Presently Wind World (India) Ltd. to the investors/power producers falling in Ramdurga and Soundatti Taluk in Belagavi District, Karnataka State. (ii) The PCCF(HoFF) has sought clarification regarding transfer of lease from Enercon (India) Ltd. to M/s CLP Wind Farms (India) Private Limited from Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited. The Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited has clarified vide letter dated 11.03.2015 and have stated that the transfer of forest land lease will be considered in favour of M/s CLP Wind Farms (India) Private Limited. (iii) In light of the above and as per report of the PCCF (HoFF) the user agency M/s Enercon (India) Limited (Presently Wind World (India) Limited) may be permitted to transfer of 118.145 ha and 48.775 ha of forest land in the name of M/s CLP Wind Farms (India) Private Limited and M/s Green Infra Wind Power Generation Limited, respectively by approving the as-built drawing along with area statement which is submitted by the Deputy Conservation of Forests, Ghataprabha Division Gokak, Belagavi District, Karnataka. (iv) The User Agency has utilized 166.920 ha out of 215.55 ha of sanctioned extent of forest land and by utilising 57.30 ha of forest land as deviation/violation due to change in width of road, length of electrical line, corridor etc. (v) While sanctioning the project, there were no coordinates insisted by Forest Dept. Hence, after execution and preparation of as-built drawing the deviation/violations are noticed by the Forest Department in different components of the Project. As explained by the User Agency these are due to practical difficulties faced by them while executing in the project area and not intentional or with any vested interest. Further, the user agency has utilised less than the total sanctioned area of 215.55 ha. (vi) The joint survey revealed, that the UA has utilised the forest land, well within the sanctioned extent of area and violations due to change in the coordinates. In the interest of encouraging the green energy production in the State, the project may be regularised as permissible under law, by approving the as-built drawing and transfer of forest land be effected in favour of investors/power producers. (vii) In this regard the application for transfer of lease in accordance with para 3(v) of the Guidelines dated 14.05.2004 issued under Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 in respect of wind power projects along with necessary enclosures like location map, depicting lease area for transfer, letter of authorisation, undertaking by investors/power producers, no objections from both the parties as submitted by the User Agency and reports of PCCF (HoFF) and the Deputy Conservator of Forests, Ghataprabha Division, Gokak are enclosed for necessary action. 5. The recommendations of the PCCF as enclosed with the letter of State Government are as follows:- (i) DCF Gokak has reported that in order to ascertain actual utilizaiton of leased area out of 215.55 ha field survey was taken up by the field staff in presence of representatives of User Agency and as-built drawings were prepared with the help of GIS tools, duly superimposing the as-built area on the approved map of the project. (ii) The details of area utilized and the extent of violations carried out by the User Agency in Ghataprabha Division of Ramdurg and Saundatti Ranges for the purpose of WEC, Corridor, Road & Electrical lines, as per the as-built drawings submitted by the DCF Gokak are as follows:- (1) Total approved area 215.551 ha (2) Total area utilized by the User Agency as per the 166.920 ha as-built drawing (3) Area utilised by the UA as per the Approval 109.619 ha (4) Additional area utilized by user agency in 57.300 ha Violation of FC Act i.e.