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Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) has obtained Stage-I forest clearance from the Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) for diversion of 379.57 hectares (ha) forest land for building a transmission line in Odisha.
The forest land is to be diverted in Angul, Athmallik, Rairakhol and Sambalpur to make way for PGCIL's transmission line that will connect its pooling station at Angul with that in Jharsuguda. The project includes construction of a 2 x 765 KV single circuit and double circuit line.
The forest land is to be diverted in Angul (52.63 ha), Athmallik (129.92 ha), Rairakhol (123.78 ha), Sambalpur (48.77 ha), Jharsuguda (7.69 ha) and Sundargarh (16.77 ha).
The ministry has laid down 22 conditions for compliance by the user agency.
One of the conditions states that the legal status of the forest land would remain unchanged even after diversion under Forest Conservation Act, 1980.
In lieu of diversion of forest land, compensatory afforestation will be taken up on 759.15 ha of degraded forest land.
The area under compensatory afforestation will be raised and maintained by the state forest department at the cost of the user agency.
