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Govt relaxes forest land use norms to boost development in Red Zones; extends the list of beneficiaries
NEW DELHI: Thirty-five more Maoist-affected districts will now be able to divert forest land for creation of critical public utility infrastructure including schools, hospitals, police stations and rural roads without being trapped in the nitty-gritty of mandatory forest clearance.
The ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) has recently extended the 'relaxed' norms to these districts, taking the tally of such districts availing the concession to 117. The maximum 11 districts out of the new addition of 35 are in Bihar, which, of late, got Centre's special attention due to the state chief minister Nitish Kumar's clear tilt towards the UPA.
Though the MoEF's decision had come over a month before Kumar's JD(U) snapped ties with BJP, the move was extension of the Centre's other concessions to Biharincluding clearing Rs 12,000 crore package for the state.Bihar had been insisting to include these districts in the list of Maoist-affected districts for long, but the Centre earlier did not oblige the state.
The MoEF's officials, however, maintained that the ministry had simply heeded to the advice of home ministry and planning commission by extending the relaxed forest conservation rules to all these 35 districts including 11 from Bihar. Eight districts in the list are from Andhra Pradesh followed by seven fromChhattisgarh, four from Jharkhand, two each from Maharashtra and Odisha and one from West Bengal.
Under the relaxed norms, the ministry has accorded "general approval" under Section-2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 for diversion of forest land for creating 13 categories of public infrastructure in these districts. The provision, however, restricts the government departments to involve maximum five hectares of forest land for a particular project.
The 13 categories of works which are allowed under the relaxed norms include construction of schools, rural roads, dispensaries, hospitals, electrical and telecommunication lines, rain water harvesting structure, minor irrigation canal, police stations, water towers and underground laying of optical fiber cables, telephone lines and drinking water supply lines among others.
The MoEF had in 2011 relaxed the norms for 60 Maoist-affected districts. Later, it was extended to 22 more districts in December last year. The latest addition of 35 districts had happened on May 17, taking to tally to 117.
While 82 of them are the districts which come under the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) scheme of the Planning Commission, the 35 are those which come under Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme of the home ministry.
Out of 1,00,133 projects taken up by the states for accelerated development under the IAP, 69056 projects had been completed till January this year. Under theSRE scheme, funds are provided for meeting the recurring expenditure relating to insurance, training and operational needs of the security forces, rehabilitation of surrendered Maoist cadres and community policing.........................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTMvMDgvMDUjQXIwMTEwMg==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
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