Since 2004, 6 lakh hectares of forest cleared for mining

[Mrudul Godbole]

There is a Times of India article which has unearthed some shocking statistics. Six lakh hectares of forest has been cleared for mining since 2004.

Since 2004, 6 lakh hectares of forest cleared for mining
Nitin Sethi, TNN Apr 20, 2013, 04.39AM IST

NEW DELHI: Rejection of big-ticket mining proposals such as Vedanta has been a rare exception in the UPA's nine-year reign. The UPA has given clearance to cut a whopping six lakh hectares of forests — of these more than 2.5 lakh hectares were for mining — since it came to power in mid-2004.

The data, accessed by TOI from the environment ministry, shows that the in-principle and final clearances add up to the combined area of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore, or roughly the equivalent of three large tiger reserves.

In comparison to the vast tracts that have been permitted to be cleared, the UPA has rejected proposals for less than 14,000 hectares out of which only about 11,000 hectares were for mining in forestland. In fact, only 13 rejected mining projects were for more than 100 hectares - Vedanta being one of them. Most rejected cases have been less than five-hectare proposals, ranging from minor mining to hospitals and petrol pumps. The big ticket cases have almost always sailed through in the end.

Any project requiring forestland needs to secure a forest clearance under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. The state governments prepare the proposal upon receiving request from the project developer and send it to the ministry for clearance. The statutory Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) recommends a case to the Centre, what is known as the Stage-1 clearance in the bureaucratic parlance. Once the ministry is assured that the Stage-1 norms have been met, it gives the final clearance to the state government permitting it to hand over the forest to the project developer.

While the industry has often complained of delays in these clearances - and the back and forth causing inordinate hold ups — the data portrays a contrary picture. In a vast majority of cases, the projects have eventually got a nod. Most in-principle clearances have also got the approval.

Cases, adding up to around 37,500 hectares, have been eventually closed in the UPA tenure so far. The ministry classifies cases as closed, when state governments are unable to provide information sought for clearance.

In comparison, the rejected cases can always be revived with some changes. Government records show that states do send back cases that have been rejected and some of them get a nod after a while.

Records also reveals that despite the Forest Rights Act (FRA), the government has cleared projects in several cases without adhering to their own regulations (passed in 2009) requiring consent from the tribal gram sabhas. Vedanta was one of the few cases, where the UPA raised the FRA red flag against the mining of the Niyamgiri hills, but here too it later used 'religious rights' as the ruse to defend its decision in the apex court.

The largest tracts of forests have been cleared in Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh.

In Arunachal Pradesh, 99,000 hectares were cleared for oil and gas exploration putting it on top of the charts, followed by Punjab due to exclusion of agricultural land from an earlier state forest Act. While, central Indian states, which are also the ore-bearing regions of the country, have seen the maximum destruction of forests. Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have bagged maximum clearances during UPA's rule.

The original article can be found here: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/h...w/19642811.cms

[Sabyasachi Patra]

The Hon'ble PM Shri Manmohan Singh has often stated in public that developmental projects are facing environment hurdles. This article nails the lie.

The Government has sacrificed Six lakh hectares of forest land for mining which is more than the combined areas of several of our large metro cities. It is pertinent to note that the Coal mining scam is being investigated by the CBI under directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court.

The Congress party was known for its contribution to wildlife protection as Smt. Indira Gandhi had taken strong actions, stopped tiger hunting tourism and had given the go ahead to Project Tiger. Unfortunately when her daughter-in-law is the most powerful person- albeit not directly a part in the UPA Government- India's natural heritage is ravaged under the blessings of the UPA Government.

Our generation is proving to be a curse for India's natural heritage and the repercussions in terms of climate change will soon haunt us.