As Modi takes charge, MoEF takes up decade-old Guj salt industry case

A 2005 application for renewal of salt lease got stuck with concerns raised by the statutory appraisal committee

After sitting on the forest clearance of a salt industry in Gujarat for almost a decade, the file is back on the environment ministry's tables for clearance as Narendra Modi takes over charge as the Prime Minister next week.

A salt producing firm Saurashtra Salt Industries had applied for renewal of salt lease on 679 hectares of forest land in Jamnagar district of Gujarat in 2005. However, the case got discussed in the ministry six year later in 2011, only to get stuck again with concerns raised by the statutory appraisal committee.

It has now come back on the Forest Advisory Committee's agenda to be discussed again on May 30, days after the erstwhile Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi takes over reigns at the Centre.

It had earlier held back clearance to the company on several grounds including the need to study the environmental implication of the project, the need for an approval from the National Board for Wildlife and a socio-ecological impact of the factory.

The company's lease has been in operation prior to the enactment of Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and thereafter the lease was renewed till July 2003. The firm had applied for renewal in February 2005.

Records of the environment ministry show, in April 2011, a factory inspection was conducted after which the FAC discussed the case in August.

The FAC in its meeting held on 26 August 2011 noted that since it involved salt production in large tracts of land and the project fell in the vicinity of Jamnagar Marine National Park, the approval of National Board of Wildlife had to be taken. The proposed site is less than a kilometer away from the boundary of the Marine National Park.

According to a Supreme Court ruling, any activity proposed within 10 kilometres of a National Park or Wildlife Sanctuary or inside them requires recommendation of the wildlife board, which is headed by the Prime Minister.The FAC observed that the salt production from this area will be around 75000-80000 tonnes per annum.

The body had also recommended several measures such as studying the implications of project from socio-ecological angle, its impact on the livelihood of the locals and overall biodiversity of the area.

The Committee also noted that there was a "need to assess the impact of salt panning on the overall biodiversity of the area, including the mangroves that have come up in defunct salt pans."

Hence, the Committee recommended a need to get the opinion of the Impact Assessment (IA) division of the Ministry and CRZ notification of these projects so that the overall impact of salt manufacture can be gauged.

The FAC will now sit on 30 May to discuss the viability of the project.