The two-day second Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) meeting under Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) slated from February 13 will decide the fate of big chunks of forest land in the country. This will include more than 2,100 hectares (ha) in Odisha and Jharkhand alone to big mining companies.
The other big-ticket projects amongst 15 queued up for the two-day meet include proposals for cement plant by lafarge in Himachal Pradesh and at least three proposed hydel projects in Arunachal.
According to the sources in MoEF, the proposed mining projects in Odisha call for the highest diversion of 1763.458 ha of forest land for iron ore and coal mining in the districts of Keonjhar and Sundergarh. Amongst the three projects lined up, one entails the diversion of 806.153 ha of forest land in the forest divisions of Bonai and Keonjhar for iron ore mining in Sundergarh and Keonjhar districts of Odisha by Neelachal Ispat Nigam ltd.
The proposed site for diversion is situated at distance within 10 kms from the reserved forests of Khajuridihi), Sarkunda, Kathmal and Mendhamaruni. The proposed forest for diversion is home to species as the elephant, monitor lizard, and snakes as python, cobra, viper etc.
The other proposal pertains to diversion of 865.2760 ha. forest land in favour of Sharda Mines Pvt. ltd. for Thakurani Iron Ore Mine Block-B located in Keonjhar District of Odisha. The third calls for diversion of 91.929 hectares of forest land in Radhikapur (West) Coal Block in Angul Forest Division in Odisha for Coal Mining by Radhikapur (West) Coal Mining Pvt. ltd.
Yet another proposal of Essar Power (Jharkhand) limited is lined up in the meeting for diversion of 509.33 ha of forest land for coal mining at Chakla Coal block, latehar Forest Division, in Jharkhand. According to reports, the project will fell a total number 1,92,882 of trees.
The fate of three hydel power projects calling for diversion of 422.38 ha of forest land in Arunachal Pradesh is also slated to be discussed. This includes diversion of 313.88 ha of forest land for construction of Tato-II Hydro Electric Project (700 MW) on Siyom River in West Siang District in favour of Tato Hydro Power (P) ltd. The other two diversion of 108.5 ha of forest land for construction of 240 MW and 186 MW of hydel project in West Siang district by Heo Hydro Power Pvt. ltd and Siyota Hydro Power Pvt. ltd respectively.
The proposed diversion of 361.99 ha of forest land in favour of lafarge India Private limited for construction of Cement Plant Mining and Conveyer Belt Karsong Forest Division in Mandi District of Himachal Pradesh is also expected to figure in the meeting. According to the report of DFO, the project site is at aerial distance of about 6 km from Majjatlal Wildlife Sanctuary and about 8.5 km from Shikari Devi Wildlife Sanctuary. In the absence of notification of “Eco Sensitive Zone” around wildlife sanctuaries clearance of National Board of wildlife is also required.