Lok Sabha Question No. 1508 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-12-08
Subject: Acquisition of Forest Land
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: JITENDRA CHAUDHURY

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1508 TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.12.2015

## Acquisition of Forest Land

## 1508. SHRI JITENDRA CHAUDHURY:

Will  the  Minister  of  ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS  AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to State:

- (a) whether any forest land has been acquired for any major project by public sector or private sector during the last three years;
- (b) if so, the details thereof, State-wise and project-wise;
- (c) whether any relaxations were extended for the purpose; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## (SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)

- (a) to (d) Section-2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 inter-alia provides that notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force in a State,  no  State  Government  or  other  authority  shall  make,  except  with  the  prior approval of the Central Government, any order directing that any forest land or any portion  thereof  may  be  used  for  any  non-forest  purpose.  Therefore,  use  of  forest land  for  various  development  projects,  including  development  projects  in  urban areas, requires prior approval  of  the  Central  Government  under  the  Forest (Conservation)  Act,  1980.  During  last  three  years  and  current  year,  the  Central Government has accorded approvals over 1,28,591 ha of forest land in 4,725 cases for public and private sector projects. State wise details of approvals granted by the Central Government for use of forest land for such activities is given at AnnexureI. Use of forest areas for such activities are approved by the Central Government under the Forest (conservation) Act, 1980 with adequate environmental safeguards and  afforestation  measures  in  lieu  of  forest  land  proposed  to  be  utilized  for developmental activities.

No specific relaxations have been extended by the Ministry for any major project by public sector or private sector. However, to streamline the process of the forest clearance, the Ministry has taken several initiatives which include web portal for online  submission  and  monitoring  the  status  of  forest  clearance  proposals,  GIS based decision support system to facilitate informed decisions on forest clearance proposals,  delegation  of  powers  to  Regional  Empowered  Committees  (RECs) constituted  at  each  Regional  Office  to  finally  dispose  of  proposals  involving diversion of 5 to 40 hectares of forest land (except the proposals relating to mining, regularization  of  encroachments  and  hydel  projects)  and  all  proposals  involving diversion  of  forest  land  for  linear  projects  irrespective  of  area  of  forest  land involved,  Notification  of  the  Forest  (Conservation)  Amendment  Rules,  2014, introduction of Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, 2015 in the Parliament, etc.

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Annexure-I Annexure referred in reply to part (a) to (d) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question no. 1508 asked by Shri JitendraChaudhury regarding 'Acquisition of Forest Land' due for reply on 8.12.2015

State  wise  details  of  area  approved  under  the  Forest  (Conservation)  Act,  1980  by  the  Central  Government  for  various developmental activities during the last three years i.e. 2012 to 2014 and current year

| S.   | STATE / UT          | 2012         | 2012               | 2013         | 2013               | 2014         | 2014               | 2015         | 2015               | Total        | Total              |
|------|---------------------|--------------|--------------------|--------------|--------------------|--------------|--------------------|--------------|--------------------|--------------|--------------------|
| No   | STATE / UT          | No .of Cases | Area Diverted (Ha) | No. of Cases | Area Diverted (Ha) | No. of Cases | Area Diverted (Ha) | No. of Cases | Area Diverted (Ha) | No. of Cases | Area Diverted (Ha) |
| 1    | Andaman and Nicobar | 2            | 9.49               | 12           | 26.10              | 3            | 3.96               | 0            | 0.00               | 17.00        | 39.55              |
| 2    | Andhra Pradesh      | 27           | 1037.02            | 28           | 2747.56            | 12           | 3334.50            | 18           | 2947.35            | 85           | 10066.43           |
| 3    | Arunachal Pradesh   | 19           | 776.73             | 12           | 4373.82            | 14           | 1355.65            | 11           | 4846.28            | 56           | 11352.48           |
| 4    | Assam               | 2            | 179.15             | 13           | 436.88             | 1            | 235.00             | 1            | 29.86              | 17           | 880.89             |
| 5    | Bihar               | 14           | 274.87             | 22           | 413.29             | 27           | 207.93             | 12           | 539.74             | 75           | 1435.83            |
| 6    | Chandigarh          | 0            | 0.00               | 1            | 0.72               | 1            | 39.86              | 1            | 0.37               | 3            | 40.95              |
| 7    | Chhattisgarh        | 13           | 4191.88            | 15           | 4184.48            | 18           | 3236.86            | 18           | 2452.23            | 64           | 14065.44           |
| 8    | Dadar& Nagar Haveli | 0            | 0.00               | 3            | 0.11               | 4            | 1.53               | 0            | 0.00               | 7            | 1.64               |
| 9    | Daman and Diu       | 0            | 0.00               | 0            |                    | 0            | 0.00               | 0            | 0.00               | 0            | 0.00               |
| 10   | Delhi               | 0            | 0.00               | 0            | 0.00               | 3            | 3.15               | 2            | 20.00              | 5.00         | 23.15              |
| 11   | Goa                 | 0            | 0.00               | 0            | 0.00               | 0            | 0.00               | 0            | 0.00               | 0            | 0.00               |
| 12   | Gujarat             | 24           | 691.50             | 14           | 678.74             | 48           | 582.58             | 74           | 776.66             | 160          | 2729.48            |
| 13   | Haryana             | 428          | 570.30             | 348          | 815.53             | 259          | 254.33             | 253          | 407.83             | 1,288.00     | 2047.99            |
| 14   | Himachal Pradesh    | 228          | 1656.96            | 138          | 1044.72            | 8            | 435.21             | 22           | 12.10.23           | 396          | 4347.12            |
| 15   | Jammu and Kashmir   | 0            | 0.00               | 0            | 0.00               | 0            | 0.00               | 0            | 0.00               | 0            | 0.00               |
| 16   | Jharkhand           | 27           | 3965.99            | 31           | 4201.89            | 15           | 2989.59            | 11           | 349.61             | 84           | 11507.08           |
| 17   | Karnataka           | 23           | 290.10             | 1            | 140.00             | 5            | 475.64             | 17           | 289.09             | 46           | 1194.83            |
| 18   | Kerala              | 7            | 1.57               | 8            | 35.94              | 0            | 0.00               | 0            | 0.00               | 15           | 37.51              |

| 19    | Lakshadweep    | 0    |     0.00 |    0 |     0.00 |   0 |     0.00 |    0 |     0.00 | 0      |      0.00 |
|-------|----------------|------|----------|------|----------|-----|----------|------|----------|--------|-----------|
| 20    | Madhya Pradesh | 24   |  4964.24 |   35 |  3438.87 |  50 |  9830.39 |   56 |  5279.79 | 165    |  23513.3  |
| 21    | Maharashtra    | 26   |  1790.15 |   17 |  1845.11 |  23 |  2380.18 |   18 |   712.94 | 84     |   6728.38 |
| 22    | Manipur        | 1    |     4.8  |    2 |   730.82 |   4 |  1366.84 |    3 |    93.1  | 10.00  |   2195.56 |
| 23    | Meghalaya      | 10   |   400.3  |    1 |     0.98 |   0 |     0    |    1 |   138.11 | 12     |    539.39 |
| 24    | Mizoram        | 0    |     0    |    3 |   482.2  |   3 |    78.58 |    0 |     0    | 6      |    560.78 |
| 25    | Nagaland       | 0    |     0    |    0 |     0    |   0 |     0    |    0 |     0    | 0.00   |      0    |
| 26    | Orissa         | 18   |  1931.64 |   10 |  5463.2  |  50 |  4516.43 |   28 |  1828.84 | 106    |  13740.1  |
| 27    | Pondicherry    |      |     0    |    0 |     0    |   0 |     0    |    0 |     0    | 0      |      0    |
| 28    | Punjab         | 278  |   550    |  262 |   759.16 | 176 |   480.21 |  226 |   151.85 | 942    |   1941.23 |
| 29    | Rajasthan      | 34   |   323.96 |   33 |  3511.94 |  14 |   782.21 |   23 |   482.28 | 104    |   5100.38 |
| 30    | Sikkim         | 0    |     0    |    1 |   143.49 |   1 |     0.4  |    5 |    30.49 | 7      |    174.38 |
| 31    | Tamil Nadu     | 11   |    42.44 |    0 |     0    |   0 |     0    |    4 |   482.2  | 15     |    524.64 |
| 32    | Telangana      | 0    |     0    |    0 |     0    |   0 |     0    |   13 |  2001.26 | 13     |   2001.26 |
| 33    | Tripura        | 10   |    94.31 |   16 |   104.32 |   1 |   172.86 |    2 |    49.49 | 29     |    420.97 |
| 34    | Uttar Pradesh  | 114  |   939.85 |  139 |  1426.87 |  21 |   835.33 |   42 |   370.49 | 316.00 |   3572.54 |
| 35    | Uttarakhand    | 180  |   517.32 |  141 |  4655.7  |  15 |  2134.13 |  239 |   177.07 | 575    |   7484.22 |
| 36    | West Bengal    | 2    |    14.06 |   11 |    54.49 |   7 |   134.12 |    3 |   121.24 | 23     |    323.91 |
| TOTAL | TOTAL          | 1522 | 25218.6  | 1317 | 41716.9  | 783 | 35867.5  | 1103 | 25788.4  | 4,725  | 128591    |

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