Lok Sabha Question No. 3398 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-13
Subject: Environment and Forest Clearance
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Pradyut Bordoloi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3398

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.03.2020

## Environment and Forest Clearance

## 3398.   SHRI PRADYUT BORDOLOI:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether a large number of project proposals are pending with the Government from North Eastern Region States including Assam for want of environment and forest clearance;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government has categorised the development projects which have been pending for want of forest clearance and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether any new 'Open Cast Coal Mining' projects have been cleared in the Tinsukia district of Assam and Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO )

(a) to (c) As per the available information on PARIVESH, there are 11 projects, located in  North  Eastern  Region  including  Assam,  which  are  at  various  stages  of appraisal under  Environment  Impact  Assessment  Notification,  2006  and  its  amendment  from time to time in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

There  are  no  cases  pending  in  the  Ministry  for  grant  of  approval  (Stage  II Clearance) under Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 for North Eastern Region. However, there are 2 projects under process in the Ministry and 5 projects in the Regional Office, Shillong for grant of Stage-I approval (In-Principle) under Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.  State  wise  details  of  projects  under  consideration  for  environmental  clearance, Stage  I  (In-Principle)  forest  clearance  and  projects  for  which  Stage-I/Stage-IIforest clearance is granted are annexed.

(d)  &  (e)  No  environment  clearance  for  Open  Cast  Coal  Mining  project  has  been granted in the Tinsukia district of Assam and Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh during 2018-19 and 2019-20.

However, forest clearance has been accorded to 1 project in Tinsukia district of Assam during 2019-20. State-wise details are annexed.

*******

Annexure I

## Details of proposals under consideration for Environmental Clearance located in North Eastern Region

| S.No.   | State             |   Pending Proposals |
|---------|-------------------|---------------------|
| 1.      | Arunachal Pradesh |                   0 |
| 2.      | Assam             |                   7 |
| 3.      | Manipur           |                   1 |
| 4.      | Meghalaya         |                   2 |
| 5.      | Mizoram           |                   0 |
| 6.      | Nagaland          |                   0 |
| 7.      | Sikkim            |                   0 |
| 8.      | Tripura           |                   1 |
| Total   | Total             |                  11 |

Annexure-II

| Details of Stage-I approval granted by MoEF &CC   | Details of Stage-I approval granted by MoEF &CC   | Details of Stage-I approval granted by MoEF &CC   | Details of Stage-I approval granted by MoEF &CC   | Details of Stage-I approval granted by MoEF &CC                                                                                                                                                                                          | Details of Stage-I approval granted by MoEF &CC   | Details of Stage-I approval granted by MoEF &CC   | Details of Stage-I approval granted by MoEF &CC                                    |
|---------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| S. No.                                            | State Name                                        | Distric                                           | File No                                           | Proposal Name                                                                                                                                                                                                                            | Area Applied (in Ha.)                             | Area Diverted (in Ha.)                            | Proposal Status                                                                    |
| 1                                                 | Assam                                             | Tinsukia                                          | 8- 05/2012- FC                                    | Diversion of 235.00 Ha of Forest Land For Lekhapani Open Cast Project of North Eastern Coalfields Under Lakhapani Range of Digboi Division For Coal Mining By North Eastern Coalfields, Coal India Limited (A Public Sector Undertaking) | 235                                               | 235                                               | Stage-I Approval granted on 28.03.2014 &Compliance report awaited from State Govt. |
| 2                                                 | Assam                                             | Tinsukia                                          | 8- 61/2011- FC                                    | Diversion Of 72.00 Ha. of Forest Land For The Tikok Extension OCP &Lekhapani OCP To Saleki Prf Are Under Digboi Division In District Tinsukia, Assam (Coal Mining)                                                                       | 72                                                | 72                                                | Stage-I Approval on 26.03.2013 &Compliance report awaited from State Govt.         |
| 3                                                 | Assam                                             | Tinsukia                                          | 8- 34/2013- FC                                    | Diversion of 98.59 Ha for Tikak Opencast Project of North Eastern Coalfields Coal India Ltd. in Saleki PRF under Digboi Division of Assam                                                                                                | 98.59                                             | 98.59                                             | Stage-I Approval on 26.12.2019 &Compliance report awaited from State Govt.         |

## Annexure- II

## Details of Projects, which are under process for grant of Stage-I approval (In-Principle) under Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980

## Head Office, MoEF&CC , New Delhi

|   S. N o | State               | File No.       | Proposal Name                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      | Categ ory   | Area in ha   | Status                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
|----------|---------------------|----------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------|--------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Arunac hal Prades h | 8- 11/201 7-FC | Proposal For Diversion Of 280.54 Ha Of Forestland For Construction Of Talong Londa Hydro Electric Project (225Mw) In East Kameng District Of Arunachal Pradesh By M/S Gmr Londa Hydro Power Pvt. Ltd.                                              | Hydel       | 280.5 4      | Proposal was considered in FAC on 27.02.2020 &Minutes of Meeting under Finalization.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
|        2 | Arunac hal Prades h | 8- 20/201 4-FC | Proposal For Diversion of 1165.66 Ha Includind(91.33 Ha Under Ground Area) of Forestland For Construction of Etalin Hydro Electric Project (3097Mw) In Dibang Valley District of Arunchal Pradesh By M/S Etalin Hydro Electric Power Company Ltd., | Hydel       | 1165. 66     | Proposal was considered in FAC held on 17.10.2019 &sub-committee of FAC shall visit the site and check if the total land requirement could be further reduced. The sub-committee may also look into the concerns highlighted by Regional Office in its Site Inspection Report (SIR) especially related to tree enumeration process and the aspects highlighted in biodiversity assessments study by Wild Life Institute of India (WII), Dehradun. Report of subcommittee shall be exhaustive with appropriate recommendation so that FAC could take appropriate decision. vide letter dated 8.11.2019. |

## Regionl Offices Shillong

|   S. N o | State               | File No.             | Proposal Name                                                                                                                                             | Categ ory          |   Area in ha | Status                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
|----------|---------------------|----------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------|--------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Arunac hal Prades h | 3-AN B 053/20 18-SHI | Proposal for diversion of forest land for oil drilling location DML-3/1 in Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh by M/s Oil India Limited., Duliajan, Assam | Mining (Drilli ng) |          3.6 | The proposal was discussed in REC on 18.02.2019 and the proposal forwarded to Ministry by Regional Office, Shillong vide letter dated 12.02.2020 for consideration of approval by the competent authority. |

|   2 | Tripur a   | 3-TR B 041/20 18-SHI       | Proposal for diversion of 1.76 ha of forest land for construction of drill site and waste pit & approach road at location TIDA under District Forest Officer, Sepahijala.       | Mining   |   1.76 | Proposal was discussed by REC on 21.12.2018 and sent to Ministry for consideration of the approval by the competent authority by RO Shillong on 26.06.2019. Ministry, NewDelhi wrote to Ministry of Petroleum seeking comments regarding consideration of drilling cases as mining or not . The original file returned to RO, Shillong vide Ministry letter F.No. 14-10/2019-ROHQ dated 30.10.2019. Ministry has been requested by Regional Office, Shillong vide letter dated 03.12.2019 to inform Regional Office, Shillong as and when the comment regarding consideration of drilling case as mining or not is received from the Ministry of Petroleum for further submission of the proposal to the Ministry for approval of the competent authority.   |
|-----|------------|----------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------|--------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|   3 | Tripur a   | No. 3- TR C 006/20 18-SHI  | Proposal for diversion of 1.368 ha of forest land for construction drilling site and waste pit and approach road at location TIAC under District Forest Officer, Sepahijala.    | Mining   |  1.368 | The proposal was discussed by REC on 05.07.2019 and sent to Ministry for consideration of the approval by the competent authority by RO Shillong on 09.07.2019. Ministry,New Delhi wrote to Ministry of Petroleum seeking comments regarding consideration of drilling cases as mining or not. The original file returned to RO Shillong vide Ministry letter F.No. 14-10/2019-ROHQ dated 01.11.2019. Ministry has been requested by Regional Office, Shillong vide letter dated 03.12.2019 to inform Regional Office, Shillong as and when the comment regarding consideration of drilling case as mining or not is received from the Ministry of Petroleum for further submission of the proposal to the Ministry for approval of the competent authority. |
|   4 | Tripur a   | F.No. 3 TR B 071/20 18-SHI | Proposal for diversion of 1.496 ha of forest land for construction of drilling site and waste pit and approach road at location TIDE under District Forest Officer, Sepahijala. | Mining   |  1.496 | REC on 05.07.2019 discussed the NBWLconsent. REC recommended and proposal sent to Ministry for approval of competent authority on 09.07.2019. Ministry, New Delhi wrote to Ministry of Petroleum seeking comments regarding consideration of drilling cases as mining or not. The original file returned to RO Shillong vide Ministry letter F.No. 14-10/2019-ROHQ dated 01.11.2019.Ministry has been requested by Regional Office, Shillong vide letter dated 03.12.2019 to inform Regional Office, Shillong as and when the comment regarding consideration of drilling case as mining or not is received from the Ministry of Petroleum for further submission of                                                                                         |

|    |          |                           |                                                                                                                                                                             |        |      | the proposal to the Ministry for approval of the competent authority.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
|----|----------|---------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------|------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|  5 | Tripur a | No. 3- TR C 012/20 18-SHI | Proposal for diversion of 1.96 ha of forest land for construction of drill site and waste pit and approach road at location TIDF under District Forest Officer, Sepahijala. | Mining | 1.96 | Proposal was discussed in the REC on 23.08.2019 andREC recommended and the proposal was sent to Ministry for approval of competent authority on 03.09.2019. Ministry, NewDelhi wrote to Ministry of Petroleum seeking comments regarding consideration of drilling cases as mining or not. The original file returned to RO Shillong vide Ministry letter F.No. 14-10/2019-ROHQ dated 01.11.2019 Ministry has been requested by Regional Office, Shillong vide letter dated 03.12.2019 to inform Regional Office, Shillong as and when the comment regarding consideration of drilling cas e as mining or not is received from the Ministry of Petroleum for further submission of the proposal to the Ministry for approval of the competent authority. |