The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has indicted the State Government and its public sector undertaking for blatant violation of forest and environment laws while allotting forestlands to industries and allowing utlisation of land without obtaining environmental clearance and forest diversion.
As per the CAG report on General and Social Sector for the year ended March 2012, the Government has allotted about 267 acres of forestland valued at Rs2,601 crore to industries without obtaining the requisite clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.
No State Government or other authority, as per Section 2 of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, shall make, except with prior approval of the Central Government, any order directing that any forestland or any portion thereof may be used for any non-forest purpose. But the CAG found that at the Chandaka and Mahisapat Industrial Estates, the forestlands were allotted to 139 industrial units as of March 2012 without obtaining requisite clearances.
The CAG report said the State-owned Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) replied in August 2013 that it has submitted forest diversion proposal for forestland at the Chandaka Industrial Estate to the State's Principal Chief Conservator of Forests.
In respect to the forestland at Mahisapat, the local authorities stated in August 2012 that the local Revenue Divisional Commissioner has been requested to change the land record of rights from forest to industry.
Expressing concern over the inept attitude of State Government, the CAG said the fact remained that the forestland was used for non-forest purposes without de-notification by the Union Government.
The CAG report stated that the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) in September 2006 made environmental clearance mandatory for new industrial projects as well as expansion and modernisation of existing ones or activities like mining industry, thermal power plants, coal washeries, metallurgical including ferrous and nonferrous, cement, industrial estates, Special Economic Zones, etc.
Besides, the CAG report said provisions of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 required that wherever industrial projects involved use of both forest and non-forest land, no work should commence on non-forest land till the approval of the Central Government was received for release of
the forestland.
Though the objective of the provision was to prevent industrial projects from commencing work on the non-forest land, the CAG noticed that noncompliance with the provisions by several industries as well as absence of adequate mechanism at the IDCO and IPICOl levels to watch against such noncompliance.
The report said as many as 10 MoU-based industries engaged in utilising land without obtaining environment and forest clearances, rendering the mandatory preconstruction clearances redundant resulting in irregular diversion of forestland. The companies which violated the provisions include Amtek Metal and Mining limited, Titanium Producers Private limited, Bhushan Energy, Chambal Infrastructure Ventures, NSl, ASO Cement, OCl India, Shyam Metalics and Energy limited, Deepak Steel and Power and Crackers India (Alloys) limited.
The report also said that of the ten companies, while OCl India, Jajpur already started production, two others, Shyam Metalcs and Energy, Sambalpur and Deepak Steel and Power, Keonjhar started partial production.
Similarly, the audit on the status of other industrial projects involving both forest and non-forest lands in case of 52 MoU-based industries revealed that eight industries had already constructed the projects on the non-forest component of land. Approval of diversion of 533.939 acres of forestland for industrial purpose had not been obtained by the eight industries as on August 2012.
The audit further noticed that in case of another industry, ESSAR Steels Orissa limited, Keonjhar, construction activities like laying a slurry pipeline had commenced on non-forest land pending approval of the Government of India for diversion of 84.144 acres of forestland.
The report pointed out that the State Government agencies like the DFO, Forest and Environment Department, IDCO and district Collectors neither monitored nor followed up to stop illegal activities of construction or production nor report to the MoEF for appropriate punitive action against the erring industries.
Even these agencies did not indicate why no action was taken to stop any construction and production activities, it said.