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The lower-level forest bureaucracy in the states will now have unbridled power to give away forest land to miners if they believe the project is temporary in nature and does not require felling of trees. A decision to this effect has been taken by the environment ministry, doing away with the need for a clearance from the Centre in such cases or even a clearance from high-level authorities in the state.
The decision will now lie with the district-level forest administrator, the divisional forest officer (DFO), to give away forest land to miners in such cases. The DFO is a rank equivalent to that of the district magistrate in the forest services.
The move has been made upon the request of the coal and mines ministries. The directive was passed on October 7 by the environment ministry and the Prime Minister's Office along with the two ministries were informed of the changes.
The logic put forth by the miners and the ministries to justify such a move is that not all the forest land they take from the government is used specifically to mine and some patches of forests are required for allied activities which are temporary in nature. Till date they were required to apply to the central government for the entire patch of forest. They needed to take consent based on a detail of what all activities would be carried out in the forest patches and their impact on the biodiversity of the area.
The new circular will now allow the miners to hive off their projects in parts and only seek clearance from the Centre for the specific patch that gets mined or requires tree felling for other purposes. The DFOs satisfied to this extent that other patches will not require felling of trees have been empowered to hand over rest of the forest land at their discretion.
The move also does away with the powers of the environment ministry's regional offices across the country. These offices were tasked to review cases for diversion of forests above a certain limit to ensure that the facts presented by the state authorities seeking the use of forest for the private developer were in order. The counter-check against state authorities has several times brought discrepancies or false facts to light, helping the central government take a call.
The decision of the government has even some in the upper echelons of forest bureaucracy unhappy. "This will give the states an unchecked power to give away forests without appropriate cross-verification. The potential to misuse this clause is too high," said a senior forest official in the ministry, unwilling to go on record. "At a time when we should be looking at the impact of a project holistically on biodiversity and forests, we are permitting piece by piece clearance this way," he added.
The Forest Conservation Act, 1980, provides that no state government can give away forest land for 'non-forestry purpose' without the approval of the Centre. It defines 'non-forestry purposes' as the 'breaking up or clearing any forest land' except when done to conserve the forests . The government has interpreted this to mean that in case miners and others are not cutting trees and breaking up or clearing forest land they do not require a central government nod to use forests.
