MINUTES OFTHE 19thMEETING OF THE REGIONAL...

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MINUTES OF THE 19 th MEETING OF THE REGIONAL EMP. WERED COMMITTEE, HELD ON 24th OCTOBER, 2016 UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF ADDL. PRINCIPAL CHIEF CONSERVATOR OF FORESTS CEN RAL AT REGIONAL OFFICE (WEST CENTRAL ZONE), MOEF&CC, NAGPUR The following members were present: 1. Shri Kanwarjit Singh, APCCF (C), (Chairperson). 2. Shri Rajendra Lakhichand Nannaware (Member). 3. Prof. Suresh Chopane (Member). Speciallnvitees: 1. Shri Mudit Kumar, Addl. PCCF & Nodal Officer (FCA), Government of Chhattisgarh. 2. Shri G. Saiprakash, Add!. PCCF & Nodal Officer (FCA), Government of Maharashtra. The following proposals were placed before the REC for discus ions. AGENDA ITEM NO.1 Sub: Diversion of 99.419 ha of Forest land in favour f Executive Engineer (CSEB) for construction of132 KV Barsoon -Bijapu Transmission Line in Dantewada and Bijapur Forest Division District of Ch attisgarh. 1. The Committee considered the above mentioned proposal and various facts related to the proposal as presented in the factsheet prepared by ~ e R,egional Office and proposal documents submitted by the State Government. T e Addl, PCCF & Nodal Officer (FCA), Government of Chhattisgarh and representat ves of the User Agency were also present in the meeting. After detailed exami ation of the proposal, interaction with the User agen.cy, the Committee noted as under: i. The proposal envisages construction and laying of 1 2KV Barsoon - Bijapur Transmission Line in the District of Raigarh in the State 1f Chhattisgarh. The total forest area proposed for diversion is 99.419, out of whi II h 71.705 ha falls under jurisdiction of Dantewada Forest Division and remaining 17.714 ha falls in Bijapur Forest Division. In addition to the forest area, the tranS]liSSiOn line also involves non-forest area of 139.180 ha comprising of 78.514 h in Bijapur District and 60.666 ha in Dantewaa District. The legal status of the f I rest land involved in the proposal is Protected Forests, Reserved Forests, and Or nge Areas and Revenue forest. II. The total route length of proposed transmission line is 8.37 kms out of which 36.822 km passes through the forest. The entire stretch of the transmission line passing through the forest land involves 38 patches comprising of 28 patches ~ ~t~y

Transcript of MINUTES OFTHE 19thMEETING OF THE REGIONAL...

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MINUTES OF THE 19thMEETING OF THE REGIONAL EMP. WERED COMMITTEE,HELD ON 24th OCTOBER, 2016 UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF ADDL.PRINCIPAL CHIEF CONSERVATOR OF FORESTS CEN RAL AT REGIONALOFFICE (WEST CENTRAL ZONE), MOEF&CC, NAGPUR

The following members were present:1. Shri Kanwarjit Singh, APCCF (C), (Chairperson).2. Shri Rajendra Lakhichand Nannaware (Member).3. Prof. Suresh Chopane (Member).

Speciallnvitees:

1. Shri Mudit Kumar, Addl. PCCF & Nodal Officer (FCA), Government ofChhattisgarh.

2. Shri G. Saiprakash, Add!. PCCF & Nodal Officer (FCA), Government ofMaharashtra.

The following proposals were placed before the REC for discus ions.

AGENDA ITEM NO.1

Sub: Diversion of 99.419 ha of Forest land in favour f Executive Engineer(CSEB) for construction of132 KV Barsoon -Bijapu Transmission Line inDantewada and Bijapur Forest Division District of Ch attisgarh.

1. The Committee considered the above mentioned proposal and various facts related tothe proposal as presented in the factsheet prepared by ~ e R,egional Office andproposal documents submitted by the State Government. T e Addl, PCCF & NodalOfficer (FCA), Government of Chhattisgarh and representat ves of the User Agencywere also present in the meeting. After detailed exami ation of the proposal,interaction with the User agen.cy, the Committee noted as under:

i. The proposal envisages construction and laying of 1 2KV Barsoon - BijapurTransmission Line in the District of Raigarh in the State 1f Chhattisgarh. The totalforest area proposed for diversion is 99.419, out of whi IIh 71.705 ha falls underjurisdiction of Dantewada Forest Division and remaining 17.714 ha falls in BijapurForest Division. In addition to the forest area, the tranS]liSSiOn line also involvesnon-forest area of 139.180 ha comprising of 78.514 h in Bijapur District and60.666 ha in Dantewaa District. The legal status of the f I rest land involved in theproposal is Protected Forests, Reserved Forests, and Or nge Areas and Revenueforest.

II. The total route length of proposed transmission line is 8.37 kms out of which36.822 km passes through the forest. The entire stretch of the transmission linepassing through the forest land involves 38 patches comprising of 28 patches

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(71.705 ha in Dantewada Forest Division and 10 patch s (27.714 ha in BljapurForest Division.

iii. As per details submitted in the proposal the area propos d for diversion involvesdensity of 0.5 to 0.7 involving total number of trees of 6, 33 within the corridor of27 meters. The Committee further noted that out of tot I 6,133 project affectedtree, only 2,927 trees will be felled while remaining tre s of 3,278 will be keptintact.

iv. With regards to the justification for the project, the Co mittee noted that entireroute of the transmission line passes through the Bijapu and Dantewada Districthaving considerable forest land and therefore, forest are a cannot be avoided inthe transmission line. District Bijapur is extreme South est District of the Stateabout 448 Km away from the Raipur and 200 Km fro Jagdalpur. Bijapur issurrounded by the dense forests and present power su ply of Bijapur District ismanaged by existing 33 KV line from Barsoor/Kirandul w ich also passed throughthe dense forest area. It is also mentioned that due to m re length of the existingtransmission line through forest area, the voltage fluctua ions is frequently facedby the Bijapur and in several incidences the Bijapur re ain without power for acouple of days.

v. The committee further noted that the State Govern ent has examined thealternatives and a report on the same has been submittFd in the proposal. Theauthorities in the State Forest Department have certfied that the proposedalternative is the most suitable alternative as it involves rnhirnurn forest area. Withregards to the observations of the Regional Office to shi the alignment to avoidforest/dense forest area, the Nodal Officer (FCA), Gov rnment of Chhattisgarhinformed the Committee that he has inspected the area a d several points, wherealignment was passing through the dense forests, the us r agency was asked tochange the alignment and present alignment involves th barest minimum forestland with lower vegetation density.

vi. The User Agency informed the Committee that they ha e made every effort tokeep the involvement of forest land in the proposal at mi imum. The Committeewas also informed by the User Agency that there were ce ain patches which wereunsurveyd and the same were also included in the curren proposal treating themas forest land. The User Agency also informed that there ere certain Khasra No.of revenue forest land where only a meagre area was inv Ived in the RoW, suchpatches were also included in the proposal.

vii. The Committee also noted that area calculation statement in the various Divisionshas been provided along with the patch wise density of th forest area involved intwo Divisions. The Nodal Officer informed the Committe that density, in all thepatches ranges from 0.2 to 0.7. The Nodal Officer (FCA) i formed the Committeethat no efforts were left unturned to keep the requirerne nt of the forest barest

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viii. The Committee further noted that compensatory afforest9tion has been proposedover degraded forest area, double in extent (199 ha) to tre forest area proposedfor diversion in Dantewada Forest Divisions in Reserve d Forests (80 ha) andProtected forest (119 ha) land. Detail CA scheme, along ith the financial out layof Rs. 10.89 crores has been submitted. Differential GPS map of the areaidentified for CA has also been submitted along with the ite suitability certificateissued by the concerned DCFs have also been sUbmit~d. An undertaking hasbeen submitted by the User Agency to bear the cost of jA. The Committee alsoconsidered the reply submitted by the State Government I n the observation of theRegional Office on the unsuitability of the CA land. T e Nodal Officer (FCA),Chhattisgarh has also informed that Committee that the area earmarked for CAhas been personally inspected by him and it is found th~ the proposed CA landhas growth of eupatorium, lantana, Chhind grass weeds a d scrubs, etc. hence issuitable for compensatory afforestation. However, the C mmittee, in view of theexamination of the over DSS, expressed its view that the State Governmentshould re-inspect the area and incase the same is foun unfit for afforestation,new area should be selected for CA.

ix. The Committee examined the compliance of Scheduled Tribes and OtherTraditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) ~ct, 2006 and observedthat the same has been submitted in accordance with the MoEF&CC's advisorydated 5.07.2013. The District Collectors of Dantewada a d Bijapur have issuedcertificates dated 9.08.2016 for an area of 28.799 ha and .08.2016 for an area of70.620 ha, respectively certifying all the clauses as stipulated in the MoEF&CCadvisory dated 5.07.2013. Documentary evidences in s' pport of settlement ofrights viz. copies of the records of the resolutions of the Gram Sabha (s) Sub-Divisions Level Committee (s) and District Level Commit ee (s) have also beensubmitted along with the compliance.

x. The Committee also noted that, the transmission line is passing within theperiphery of 10 Km from the boundary of the Bharamg. rh WLS and the eco-sensitive Zone of the Bharamgarh WLS has not been notif ed yet. The Committeealso considered the fact that since the transmission lines p oposals do not requireenvironment clearance and accordingly, thought the trans ission line is passingthrough within a distance of 10 km from the boundary of LS the approval of theStanding Committee of the NBWL is not required for the roposed transmissionline.

xi. The User Agency also informed the Committee that area s severely affected bythe Naxalism for want of adequate opportunities for t e development. TheCommittee was informed by the User Agency that existing 33 KV line isinadequate to support development of infrastructure faciliti :s in the region as thesame is frequently damaged by the nexalites causing po er breakdown in theentire region. The Committee was also informed that once he transmission line is

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completed reliable and quality power supply shall be ens red in the region whichwill boost the economic development in the region.

xii. The Committee noted that no violation of the Forest (Con ervation) Act, 1980 hasbeen reported by the State Government and the author ties in the State ForestDepartment and the State Government have recommen ed the proposal withoutany specific condition.

2. After detailed discussion and examination of the propos I and in view of thebackwardness of the District and LWE problems, the Comm ttee decided to approvethe proposal for grant of Stage-I approval under the Forest ( onservation) Act, 1980subject to general, standard and following additional condition :i. No approach road shall be constructed in the forest a ea for transportation of

steel and other material required for the transmission lin ... As far as possible theUser Agency shall use the existing road and the ~roposed RoW for thetransportation of the material and in the event of non-ava lability of such facilities,the User Agency shall transport material manually without construction of anypath.The State Government shall re-inspect the area identifi~d for raising CA and incase the same appears to be unfit for afforestation the new site may be selectedand detailed information on all the relevant attributes ay be submitted alongwith the compliance report.Felling of trees shall be restricted to only 2,927 trees, t roughout the length ofthe transmission line while remaining trees of 3,278 will b kept intact by the UserAgency.

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i i i.

AGENDA ITEM No.2

Sub: Diversion of 31.55 ha of Protected Forest land in favour of MIs Aarti Spongeand Power Limited, Raipur for mining of iron ore in in Alnar village of tehsilKuakonda in Dantewada Forest Division of Sout Bastar, DantewadaDistrict in the State of Chhattisgarh·regarding (F. No. C·II/CH·46/2016·NGP)

1. The Committee considered the above mentioned proposal and various facts related tothe proposal as presented in the factsheet prepared by th Regional Office andproposal documents submitted by the State Government. Th. Addl. PCCF & NodalOfficer (FCA), Government of Chhattisgarh and representativ s of the User Agencywere also present in the meeting. After detailed examin tion of the proposal,interaction with the User agency, the Committee noted as und r:

i. The proposal envisages mining over an area of 31.55 h I for excavation of ironore in Alnar village falling in Bacheli Forest Range. he Mineral ResourceDepartment, Government of Chhattisgarh, vide their ord r no. F 3-13/201 0/12 ~~

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dated 1.10.2013 has granted the mining lease to the uSlr Agency for captive useof iron ore for their own consumption. Mining Plan, appr I ved by the IBM, Nagpurhas been submitted. As per Mining Plan the total reser e in the area have beenestimated to the tune of 2.37 MT with mineable reserve f 1.73 MT. The mineablereserve can support the mining operation for 55 years ..t production capacity of31,500 Tonnes per anum.

II. Total forest land proposed for diversion for non-forestr purpose is 31.55 ha ofProtected Forest land having vegetation density of O .. A total of 1012 trees,comprised of 668 trees of below 60 cm girth and 344 tees above 60 cm, havebeen proposed to be felled in the lease area.

III. Compensatory afforestation has been proposed over an •rea of 33.053 ha privatenon-forest land in Balrampur Forest Division. CA schem for a period of 10 yearsinvolving a financial provision of Rs. 1,74,60,9921- has be~ensubmitted .. The DFOBalrampur has certified that land identified for CA is suita Ie for raising CA and islocated at a distance of 20 meters from the forest boun I ary. Examination of theGoogle satellite imagery of the CA land showed that Ian ~,appears to be suitablefor afforestation. From the examination of the kml file 0 er the Google imagery,the land appears to be in close proximity of the forest Ian I also seems to be fit forafforestation.

iv. With regards to the Wildlife, the Committee noted that ~ e PCCF (Wildlife) hasmentioned that as per the report of the DFO there is no Schedule-I species foundin the area. The Committee was further informed that are is not inhabited by thesloth bear and panthers. However, there are incidences f their attack on humanin the past which might have occurred during their move ents. Keeping in viewthis fact a Wildlife Management Plan has been prepared ~y the User Agency andthe same is presently under the consideration of the PCCf (Wildlife). The WildlifePlan covers habitat improvement of the wildlife and otheromponents.

v. Compliance of Scheduled Tribes and Other Tradifonal Forest Dwellers(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 has beenubmitted. The DistrictCollector, South Baster, Dantewada has issued certificate dated nil for an area of31.55 ha of revenue forest land certifying all the claus s as stipulated in theForm-I annexed to the MoEF&CC, advisory dated 5.0 2013. The records ofconsultation meeting of the Gram Sabha Alnar, Forest ight Committee, Sub-Divisional Level Committee have been submitted along wit the compliance.

vi. No violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 have been reported in thearea proposed for diversion.

vii. The Committee further noted that as per the Decision ule 2 of the DecisionSupport System, the area proposed for diversion falls in I ristine forest categoryi.e. area falls in the 1 sq km grid observed to pristine as th·· total score of the gridin term of its forest cover, forest type, land scape integri y value and biologicalrichness. The Nodal Officer (FCA) Government of Chh: ttisgarh informed the , ~

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Committee that the area proposed for diversion involve only 31.55 ha of forestland which is relatively has lesser significance in terms 6, parameters used in theDSS's Decision Rule 2. The Committee, was also infornllled by the Nodal Officerthat in the area proposed for diversion there are only 32 nees/ per ha and as perthe recent report the area is not inhabited by the sl th bear and panthers.However, there are incidences of their attack on humans have been reported inthe past which might have been during their movement through the area. TheCommittee, after further examination of the area observer that area proposed fordiversion (0.31 Sq Km) constitutes the part of two grids pf 1 sq each as read bythe DSS and hence it may not be justifiable to consi~.er the area as pristineforests in view of the submission made by the Nodal 0 ficer and fact that areahas 32 trees per ha with exposed rock surface (float or1)and is located on thefringe of the Protected Forests which was earlier revenue orests.

viii. The Committee further noted that the State Governmnt of Chhattisgarh hasgranted 25 mining leases in the State with total reserv of 1099.0853 MT. InDantewada District there are 8 minng leases grante to MIs NMDC. TheCommittee was further informed by the Nodal Officer (FC I) that total resources ofiron ore available in Chhattisgarh is 2558 MT approximat ·Iy and at present majorproduction is being carried by the MIs SAIL for their capti e use and NMDC. TheNMDC is setting up a Steel Plant and it has its own ex ort compulsion othersmining leases are operating as captive mines.

ix. The representatives of the User Agency have also infor ed the Committee thatcurrently they are finding it difficult to procure iron ore fo their steel plant in theState of Chhattisgarh. Currently, they are procuring iro ore from the NMDC.Given the inconsistent pattern of supply, increased costs the User Agency hasbeen granted mining lease by the State Government for aptive use. The StateGovernment has signed a MoU with the UA pursuant to hich they have movedthe proposal for seeking diversion of forest land.

x. With regards to the transportation of the ore from the . ite, the User Agencyinformed that Committee that ore will be transported throu h road upto Jagdalpurand thereafter it will be transported to Raipur through rail ay. The User Agencyalso informed the Committee that given the inadequacy 0 railway infrastructure,option of transportation through train is not feasible. How~ver, after the doublingof the track, there is possibility of transportation of the excavated material throughrailway. The Committee expressed its considered opinio that with a view toreduce traffic load on the road, the User Agency should e plore the possibility ofore transportation through the railway.

xi. The Committee further noted that the authorities in the Stat Government and theState Forest Department have recommended the propos I. The PCCF (HoFF),Government of Chhattisgarh has recommended the prl posal with followingconditions: •. 1

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a. The user agency shall construct residential buildings for its employees onseparate non-forest land to reduce pressure on the for st land for temporaryaccommodation.

b. To ensure protection of the forest area fencing of the safety zone shall beundertaken by undertaking 6 feet high recoiled barbered ire fencing.

2. After detailed discussion and examination of the prop 1 sal, the Committeerecommended the proposal for grant of approval under the Forest (Conservation)Act, 1980 subject to general, standard and following additional bonditions:

i. Wildlife Management Plan, prepared by the User Agency a d as approved by theChief Wildlife Warden, shall be implemented in consultation ith the Chief WildlifeWarden.

II. The User Agency in consultation with the State Governme t should explore thepossibility of the transportation of ore through the railway t avoid traffic load onthe existing road. I

III. The UA should prepare a land surrender schedule for surremder of the mined outand biologically reclaimed forest land in accordance with t e existing mine planirrespective of progressive mine closure plan and submit am surrender scheduleand an undertaking that mined out and biologically reclaim, d forest land will besurrendered to the State Forest Department as per this chedule. No furtherchange in the schedule for surrendering of forest land shoul

AGENDA ITEM NO.3

Sub: Diversion of 37.512 ha Forest land in favour of El ecutive Engineer,Gosikhurd Lift Irrigation Division, Ambadi (Bhandara) unjder Section 2 (ii) ofForest (Conservation) Act, 1980 for construction of Sur wada Lift IrrigationScheme near village Surewada, Taluka & District Bh ndara and villageKhedepar, Tahsil Tirode, Dist. Gondia in the State of aharashtra (F. No.FC-IIIMH-4112016-NGP)

1. The Committee considered the above mentioned proposal and arious facts relatedto the proposal as presented in the factsheet prepared by the egional Office andproposal documents submitted by the State Government. The 1 ddl PCCF & NodalOfficer (FCA), Government of Maharashtra and representatives of the User Agencywere also present in the meeting. After detailed examinati m of the proposal,interaction with the User agency, the Committee noted as under:

i. The Committee noted that project envisages lifting of the bac water of GosikhurdProject for irrigation purpose. In this project linear forest srea is required forunderground raising Main and Canal Works. The Gosikhurd roject is located at

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Wainganga River is a major river of Maharashtra in Vidarblha region and tributaryof Pranhita in Godawari Basin.

II. The Committee also noted that the State Government as emphasized thatirrigation project is an obvious need of the people of this an a who are dependenton Monsoon for irrigation. It is also mentioned by the Stat Government that thisproject will enable the farmers to get the profit in R bi season also thedevelopment of agro industries thereby resulting into the ~conomic upliftment ofthe economically backward communities as well as triral area. It is alsomentioned by the State that the river Wainganga, a major ributaries of Godavaribasin, has very high water potential as it runs through high rainfall zone ofVidarbha region. Due to constrain of forest land geograph'cal features, suitableirrigation project sites are not available for impounding of ater for storage tankand as such the only alternative is to lift the water. There ar no irrigation projectsnear the command area of the proposed scheme except three minor projects.The proposal has Irrigated command area of 5000 ha in 2 villages falling in theGondia and Bhandara Districts.

iii. The proposal involves two district viz. Bhandara and Gondis involving forest areaof 35.933 ha and 1.579 ha, respectively. The proposal i volves total area of37.512 ha comprising of 0.650 ha of Reserved Forests (Ko a Wildlife Sanctuary,32.088 ha of Protected Forests, 0.090 ha of Identified For sts and 4.684 ha ofZudupi Jungle Land.

iv. The State Government informed that there are 3423 trees roposed to be felledin different compartment in Bhandara Forest Division, and 3 0 trees will be felledin compartment no. 164 in Koka Wildlife Sanctuary. The ~otal number of treesproposed to be felled is 3803.

v. Compensatory afforestation has been proposed over Zudup Jungle land, doublein extent to the area proposed for diversion in Bhandara\ Forest Division. CAscheme for a period of 7 years involving a financial provision of Rs. 250.146 /-lakh has been submitted. The DFO Bhandara has certified t at land identified forCA is suitable for raising CA and is located contiguous to he forest boundary.Examination of the Google satellite imagery of the CA la d showed that landappears to be suitable for afforestation. From the examinati n of the kml file overthe google imagery, the land appears to be in close Proxij'ty of the forest landalso seems to be fit for afforestation. The Committee also bserved that ZudupiJungle land has already been handed over to the State Fore t Department by theRevenue Department in the year 2012.

vi. As per details indicated in the proposal no violation of the F rest (Conservation)Act, 1980 have been reported.

vii. The Deputy Director, Navegaon Nagzira Tiger Reserve, De uty Conservator ofForests, Bhandara and Deputy Conservator of Forests, Go dia has mentioned ~that the project site forms part of Koka Wildlife Sanctuary an lies within 10 Km of{, '--~- y,,- \\

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the boundary of Nagzira Tiger Reserve and an area of 0.650 ha of rising mainunit -I in Bhandara District falls in the Koka Wildlife Sanotuary. The Committeewas informed by the Nodal Officer (FCA), Government 0 Maharashtra that theproposal has been recommended by the State Board Wild ife in its meeting heldon 5.04.2016 held under the Chairmanship of Ho I'ble Chief Minister,Maharashtra. Proposal has been recommended by the State Government to theNational Board for Wildlife on 10.05.2016. The Committe was informed by theUser Agency that proposal has been considered by the Standing Committee ofNBWL in its meeting held on 23.08.2016 and the Co mittee approved theproposal with five number of underpasses/crossing pints for the wildlife. However,copy of the minutes of the meeting of the Standing Commi tee of the NBWL wasnot made available by the User Agency.

viii. Compliance of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditio al Forest Dwellers(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 has been su I,mitted by the StateGovernment. The Committee, after examination of the doc ments observed thatno record of proceedings of the meeting of the Sub-Division I Level Committee ofboth the Districts has been submitted along with the compli nce. Further Englishtranslation of the record of consultation with the Sub-Divisi nal Level Officer wasnot submitted.

ix. PCCF (HoFF), Maharashtra has recommended the propo~al subject to certainconditions inter-alia stipulating that User Agency shall 0 tain approval of theState Board for Wildlife and Standing Committee of the N .WL and NGT as thearea falls within 10 Km from the boundary of Protected are: (Navegaon NagziraTiger Reserve, Sakoli).

2. After detailed discussion, the Committee recommended that ollowing informationmay be sought from the State Government and after receipt of t e same the proposalmay be submitted again to the Committee for its further exarninat on:I. Patch wise detail of forest area involved in the proposal, nu ber of trees involved

therein along with the detail of forest patches being bifu cated by the canalalignment and distribution channels system may be sub itted by the StateGovernment.

II. Forest patches being bifurcated should be clearly depic ed on the map ofappropriate scale and submitted

iii. Purpose wise breakup of the area proposed for diversion.

iv. Correct and consolidated shape/Kml files of the canal IIatch conspicuouslyshowing the rcrest land and canal alignment.

v. The alignments, in the area where forest area is being b urcated, should berealigned to avoid fragmentation of the forest land. The possibility to this extentmay be explored by the State Government including constru ttion of underground ~pipeline in such patches to avoid fragmentation. :{,1\'1

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vii.

A copy of the minutes of the meeting of the Standing Co mittee of the NBWLmay be made available to the Regional Office.Complete compliance of Scheduled Tribes and Other Tradfional Forest Dwellers(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 as the record of t e proceedings of theGram Sabha/Forest Right Committee in Gondia District a d proceedings of theSub-Divisional Committee for the Bhandara and Gondia D stricts have not beensubmitted. The same needs to be submitted along with the English translation ofall supporting documents.

vi.

AGENDA ITEM NO.4

Sub: Diversion of 26.77 ha of Reserved Forest land in avour of ExecutiveEngineer, Dhule Medium Irrigation Project, for constr ction of IchagavanMinor Irrigation Tank in Village Ichagavan in Nandurba District in the Stateof Maharashtra - regarding.

1. The Committee considered the above mentioned proposal an various facts relatedto the proposal as presented in the factsheet prepared by th Regional Office andproposal documents submitted by the State Government. The Add!. PCCF & NodalOfficer (FCA), Government of Maharashtra and representative of the User Agencywere also present in the meeting. After detailed exarninat on of the proposal,interaction with the User agency, the Committee noted as unde :

i. The Committee noted that proposal was earlier considered by the Committee inits meeting held on 22.04.2016 and the Committee, after detailed examinationand discussion, decided that proposal in its present form does not deserveconsideration by the Ministry and it needs to be re ised for its furtherconsideration by the REC. The Committee recommende that compliance ofcertain points may be ensured from the State Government for furtherconsideration of the proposal by the Committee.

II. The Committee considered the reply submitted by the ddl. PCCF & NodalOfficer (FCA), Government of Maharashtra vide his letter d ted 13.10.2016 andafter examination of the same, the Committee noted as unde :

a. The Committee noted that the User Agency re-designed t e Tail Channel andwidth of Tail Channel reduced to 46.5 meters from 64 mtr a d length restricted to180 meters from 210 meters, thereby saving 30% of tree number proposedearlier in the tail section. Committee also considered reply of the StateGovernment that it is not possible to shift the location of tai channel as there issteep slope of ground on right side, velocity of flood is bey nd permissible limitand it will considerably effect the weir foundation and dam s fety. The Committeecould not corroborate the submission made by the State overnment with the ,,~

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underlying documents with regards to the number of trees s the later mentionedthat now a total of 1,722 trees will be affected than 1,781 rees proposed earlierin the proposal, therefore, only 59 trees have been save I by the User Agencywhich accounts for only 3.3% of total number of trees and nfot30 % as claimed bythe State Government. Further, reduction in the area to b.· effected by reducingthe dimensions of the tail channel has not been in ormed by the StateGovernment.

b. Encroachment has been removed from the land identifi d for raising CA on20102/2016 in presence of forest RFO, staff, Revenue Dept officer & waterresources Dept. officer and after 1st stage approval with h Ip of Revenue Dept.,User agency will hand over 26.77 ha of land free from enc achment to the StateForest Department.

c. The Committee also noted that the the user agenc has agreed to layunderground pipe line instead of construction of canal. Ho ever, reduction in theforest area by undertaking underground pipeline and et area required fordiversion has not been submitted along with the documents

d. Component wise breakup of the area has been submitted. However, the same isnot in accordance with the changes proposed in the proje . component, i.e. areafor underground pipeline has not been included in the com onent. Moreover, thenet forest area required for the project has not been submit ed.

e. An undertaking by the User Agency not to use forest Ian for quarry has beensubmitted wherein the UA has mentioned that quarry requ red for the project willbe procured from the non-forest land in Icchagavan village. Consent in this regardhas been obtained from the concerned farmers.

f. Compliance of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditi nal Forest Dwellers(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 has been submitt d in accordance withthe MoEF&CC's advisory dated 5.07.2013. The District Col ector, Nandurbar, hasissued certificate dated 28.12.2015 for an area of 26.7 ha certifying all theclauses of the MoEF&CC' advisory dated 5.07.2013. C pies of the record ofconsultation and meeting of the Gram Sabha, Sub-Divisi nal Level Committeeand District Level Committee, along with their English tran lation have also beensubmitted along with the compliance.

2. After detailed discussion the Committee recommended that he State Governmentmay submit the following information to the Regional Office:

I. Net forest area required to be diverted for the project as the user agency hasaffected changes in the project components. A comparati e statement showingproject component wise area saved by the user agency

ii. Exact number of number of trees to be affected from the pr [ect may be providedproject component wise.

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The CA site may be changed to alternate location to avoi the chances of likelyencroachment on the CA land in future.

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