MINUTES OF THE 15th MEETING OF THE REGIONAL EMPOWERED COMMITTEE.HELD ON 23rd JUNE. 2016 UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF ADDL. PRINCIPALCHIEF CONSERVATOR OF FORESTS (CENTRAL). AT REGIONAL OFFICE (WESTCENTRAL 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: A-fe.1. Sh. Pradeep Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forests (FC), representative of the

Add!. PCCF & Nodal Officer (FCA), Government of Maharashtra.

The following proposals were placed before the REC for discussions.

AGENDA ITEM NO.1

Sub: Diversion of 26.136 ha of forest land (24.954 ha of Reserved Forest, 1.172ha of Protected Forest and 0.01 ha of Revenue Forests) in favour of MIsNational Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) for laying of waterpipelines from Tiria for the proposed 3.0 MTPA capacity Integrated SteelPlant in Bastar Forest Division in Bastar District in the State of Chhattisgarh- regarding.

1. The Committee considered the above mentioned proposal and various facts related tothe proposal as presented in the factsheet prepared by the Regional Office and file ofthe proposal submitted by the State Government. After detailed examination of theproposal, interaction with the User agency, the Committee noted as under:

2. The proposal envisages laying of a water pipeline to meet the water requirement ofIntegrated Steel Plant of NMDC being setup in Bastar Division in the State ofChhattisgarh. The pipe line has been proposed from Kolab/Shabri River to 3 MTPANagarnar Integrated Steel Plant near Tiria village to supply water to the Plant. Theproposed pipe line will be laid underground. The total length of the pipeline is 34 kmout of which 24 km length falls in the forest area.

3. The Committee also noted that area proposed for diversion comprised of 24.954 ha ofReserved Forests, 1.72 ha of Protected Forests and 0.01 ha of Revenue Forestshaving vegetation ranging from 0.5 to 0.9. A total of ~,950 trees, comprising of 1028trees of 60 cm girth and 2,922 trees of above 60 cm girth have been proposed to befelled during the execution of the project. The area is not important from wildlife view

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point as certified by the concerned DCF. Compensatory afforestation has beenproposed over degraded forest land, twice in extent to the forest land being diverted.CA scheme, site suitability certificate and undertaking from the user agency to bearthe cost of CA has been submitted along with the proposal. No violations of the Forest(Conservation) Act, 1980 have been reported by the State Government. TheCommittee, based on the DSS report of the area proposed for CA, observed thatcertain patches in the area appears to be stocked with existing forests whereafforestation work may not be possible. The Nodal Officer (FCA), in this regardinformed the Committee that a patch of about 72.673 ha has been identified forraising CA instead of 52.272 ha (double degraded forest land in lieu of diversion offorest land) and blank area of 52.7272 ha is available for afforestation in the patch of76.673 ha identified for CA.

4. The Committee also noted that preliminary scrutiny of the proposal in the RegionalOffice revealed certain shortcomings which were communicated to the StateGovernment vide letter dated 4.03.2016. The Addl. PCCF & Nodal Officer (FCA),Government of Chhattisgarh submitted reply vide his letter dated 16.05.2016.Examination of the reply submitted by the Nodal Officer (FCA) by the Committeerevealed that compliance of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 has been submitted in accordance with theMoEF&CC's advisory dated 5.07.2013 read with the Guidelines dated 3.08.2009. Alldocumentary evidences in support of settlement of rights viz. resolution of concernedGram Sabha (s) recoding their consent for the proposal, except record ofconsultation of meetings of the Sub-Divisional Level Committee, have beensubmitted by the State Government.

5. The User Agency informed the Committee, that in the State of Chhattisgarh,proceeding of the Gram Sabha are directly collated by the District Collector except incases where certain rights are claimed by the Gram Sabha(s) and for this reason, theconsultation and meeting of the Sub-Divisional Level Committee are not available inthe instant case. Further, examination of the issue by the Committee revealed that asper the provisions of the Rule 6 of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional ForestDwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act Rules, 2007, wherein inter-alia it isstipulated that all the resolutions of the concerned Gram Sabha (s) will be collated bythe Sub-Divisional Committee, the submissions made by the User Agency were notfound tenable by the Committee and accordingly, the Committee decided that strictcompliance of MoEF&CC's advisory dated 5.07.2013 may be ensured by the StateGovernment and documentary evidences as stipulated under clause (a) of the Form-Iannexed to MoEF&CC advisory dated 5.07.2013 may be obtained from the StateGovernment.

6. The User Agency, on being asked, also informed the Committee that Integrated SteelPlant of NMDC has been scheduled to be commissioned in the year 2017 and beforethe commissioning of Steel Plant ensuring water supply, which is criucial for Plant isnecessary. The User Agency also informed the Committee that the iron ore for the

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proposed steel plant will be obtained from the Iron Ore mines of the NMDC located inthe Kirandool and Bacheli Mining projects in Bailadilla in Dantewada District in theState of Chhattisgarh.

7. Committee also noted the submission made by the User Agency regarding costbenefit analysis which was reported as 1:2,249. The Committee was informed by theUser Agency that uunderground water pipeline from Kolab (Shabri) river to Nagarnaris an integral part of Integrated Steel Plant. Therefore, while analyzing cost benefitanalysis parameters for assessment of losses and benefits of the integrated SteelPlant are also included resulting CB ratio as 1:2249.

8. The Nodal Officer (FCA), Government of Chhattisgarh has also informed theCommittee that an area of about 35 ha has already been diverted in two projects ofthe User Agency for construction of Steel Plant and a Transmission line and theinstant proposal is also an offshoot of the same project for which approval wasalready obtained from the Central Government under the Forest (Conservation) Act,1980.

9. With regards to the details regarding the approval obtained from the Water ResourceDepartment of the State Government to utilize water from the Kolab river, the useragency has informed the Committee that NMDC Ltd. had been permitted byGovernment of Chhattisgarh on 6.08.2009 to withdraw 53.69 m. cu.rn. water perannum from Shabri river for upcoming integrated Steel Plant and they have submitteda proposal on 14.09.2013 to the Principal Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources,Govt. of C.G. Raipur for extension of the free usage period by another 4 years andapproval of the same is awaited. The Nodal Officer informed the Committee that theUser Agency has deemed approval for withdrawal of water from the Kolab river.

10. The Committee, also observed that an area of approx 0.866 ha has been proposedfor ancillary activities like construction of intake well and pump house, etc. which areincluded in the linear projects, the Committee is of the view that a justification from theState Government may be obtained to include the area proposed for ancillaryactivities in the linear project of pipeline rather than submitting a separate proposal.

11. After thorough discussion on the proposal, the Committee observed that importantdetails on the proposal is not available in the proposal and accordingly, theCommittee decided that the proposal may again be placed before the Committee afterreceipt of following information from the State Government:

I. Complete compliance of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 i.e. record of record of consultation ofmeetings of the Sub-Divisional Level Committee as required under clause (a) ofthe Form-I of the MoEF&CC's Advisory dated 5.07.2013.

ii. Justification from the State Government to include the area proposed for ancillaryactivities in the linear project of pipeline rather than submitting a separate.:

proposal for intake well and pump house (0.866 ha) and also reasons for notmaking this project a part of initial projects.

iii. The Committee also desired to know from the State Government regardinginordinate delay in submission of the proposal for diversion of forest land forpipeline at such a late stage when physical structures of the Steel Plant hasalready come up. Details of events in chronological order starting from the date ofsubmission of the proposal to the DFO to Government of India, may also besubmitted by the State Government.

AGENDA ITEM NO.2

Sub: Diversion of 97.1515 ha of Mangrove area, Reserved Forests, AcquiredPrivate Forests and Restored Private Forest land in favour of MIs TataPower Company Limited, Mumbai for laying of 400 KV Dherand toPalm beach Transmission line in Raigad and Thane District in the State ofMaharashtra - regarding (F. No. 6-MHA-06/2015-BHO).

1. The Committee considered the above mentioned proposal and various facts related tothe proposal as presented in the factsheet prepared by the Regional Office and file ofthe proposal submitted by the State Government. After detailed examination of theproposal, interaction with the representative of the Nodal Officer (FCA), Governmentof Maharashtra and the representatives of the User agency, the Committee noted asunder:

2. The Committee also noted that proposal has already been considered by theCommittee in its meeting held on 26.08.2015 and the Committee, after examination ofthe proposal had sought information from the State Government on duly filled Part-IIand re-inspection of the area by the DCF and compliance of Scheduled Tribes andOther Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 issued bythe Thane District Collector as per Gol guidelines dated 5.07.2013. The Addl. PCCF& Nodal Officer (FCA), Government of Maharashtra vide his letter dated 24.05.2016submitted reply to the observations of the REC.

3. With regards to the compliance of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional ForestDwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, the Committee noted that theDistrict Collector, Thane has issued certificate dated 30.12.2015 over an area of9.9705 ha of forest land certifying all clauses as stipulated in the MoEF&CC'sadvisory dated 5.07.2016 except clause (b) of Form-I which is reported as NA by theDistrict Collector, Thane. The Committee also noted that Section 3 (2) of the ForestRight Act, 2006 deals with the general approval accorded under the aforementionedAct for diversion of forest land for certain categories. The purpose of clause (b) of theadvisory dated 5.07.2013 is to assess if any facility as indicated in the Section 3 (2) ofthe Forest Right Act, 2006, is being managed by the Gram Sabha over the forest la~nd1

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proposed for diversion. The District Collector is supposed to certify the same basedon the available records of proceedings of settlement of rights in the area takenearlier.Similarly, the District Collector, Raigad has issued a certificate dated 9.07.2014, overan area of 87.1810 ha certifying all the clauses as stipulated in the MoEF&CCadvisory dated 5.07.2013. The District Collector in his certificate dated 9.07.2014 hasalso mentioned that certificate is issued subject to final decision or order of theHon'ble Court about land in proposal in village Ransai, Tal Uram, S. No. 42, 45, 48,55, and 155 and Odhangi, Tal Pen S. No. 34/1. The Committee noted that presentstatus of cases mentioned by the District Collector in his certificate and documentaryevidences in support of settlement of rights as required under clause (a) of the Form-Iof the MoEF&CC's Advisory dated 5.07.2013 have not been submitted.

4. After examination of the compliance of the Scheduled Tribes and Other TraditionalForest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, the Committee noted that itappears that process of settlement of rights as per the provisions of the Act has notbeen completed by the District Administrative Authoriites. The Committee desired thatproper documentary evidences, as per specified in the clause (a) of the Form-Iannexed to the MoEF&CC's advisory dated 5.07.2013 may be submitted by the StateGovernment.

5. After thorough examination and discussion on the proposal, the Committeerecommended the still certain important information in the proposal is lacking andaccordingly, the proposal may be placed before the Committee after receipt of thefollowing information from the State Government:

I. The Committee desired that proper documentary evidences, as per specifiedin the clause (a) of the Form-I annexed to the MoEF&CC's advisory dated5.07.2013 may be submitted by the State Government. In case the process ofright settlement is to be taken afresh by the State Government, revised DistrictCollectors certificates in respect of Thane and Raigad District may besubmitted.

II. Present status of cases mentioned by the District Collector, Raigad in hiscertificate and documentary evidences, as specified in the clause (a) of theForm-I annexed to the MoEF&CC's advisory dated 5.07.2013 viz. records ofconsultations with the Forest Rights Committee(s), Gram Sabha(s) and Sub-Divisoinal Level Committee may be submitted by the State Government.

Agenda Item No.3

Sub: Diversion of 57.5092 ha of forest land in favour of MIs Tata Power CompanyLimited, Mumbai for laying of 400 KV Kharghar to Vikroli Transmission line. l

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in Raigad, Thane and Mumbai Suburban Districts in the State ofMaharashtra - regarding (F. No. 6-MHA-02/2015-BHO).

1. The Committee considered the above mentioned proposal and various facts relatedto the proposal as presented in the fadsheet prepared by the Regional Office andfile of the proposal submitted by the State Government. After detailed examination ofthe proposal, interaction with the representative of the Nodal Officer (FCA),Government of Maharashtra and the representatives of the User agency, theCommittee noted as under:

2. The above mentioned proposal has been accorded Stage-I approval vide this officeletter of even number dated 14.08.2015 and now the State Government ofMaharashtra vide its letter dated 19.05.2016 submitted a request to delete thecondition no. 33 of the Stage-I approval dated 14.08.2015 stipulating that UserAgency will defray the cost of medicinal plantation over 57.5092 ha as decided bythe Forest Department.

3. The Committee also considered the submission made by the PCCF (HoFF) in hisletter dated 4.05.2016 and after thorough consideration of the matter, the Committeeobserved as under:

i. The condition no. 27 regarding raising of medicinal plantation under the RoW isstipulated by the MoEF&CC in accordance with the provisions of the Guidelinesissued under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, which in the present case asper the assessment of the State Government is 13.0 ha.

ii. The Committee also considered the fact that as per the conditions stipulated inthe FC approval, one outer strip is to be left clear to permit maintenance of thetransmission line while in the remaining RoW pollarding/pruning of trees isrequired to be done with the permission of the local forest officer while in anotherstrip (maintained for minimum clearance below conductors) natural regenerationis allowed to come after stringing work is completed. In the remaining width ofRoW a minimum clearance of 5.5 meters is prescribed keeping in view the swagof line. However, in this section only pruning and pollarding of trees is permittedto maintain the prescribed clearance between conductors and trees. Therefore,out of the two outer clear felled strips below each conductor, in case oftransmission lines, one outer strip is to be clear felled for maintenance oftransmission line and hence the same is not available for plantation of medicinalplants, while the another outer strip where can be used to plantation of medicinalplants in addition to other suitable areas in the remaining areas, as available inthe remaining area of RoW for plantation of medicinal plants.

4. After thorough discussion on the proposal and also in view of the existing Guidelinesin respect of transmission lines, the Committee decided as under:I. Condition no. 33 of the Stage-I approval dated 14.08.2015 which stipulates

payment of cost of raising plantation of dwarf species over an area of 57.5092 hamay be deleted.

II. In compliance to conditions no. 27, plantation of dwarf medicinal plants speciesunder the available RoW of 13.0 ha, as assessed by the State ForestDepartment, may be raised by the State Forest Department at the project cost.

Nannaware)

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