Compulsory afforestation regulations to be eased soon : Private developers rejoice
If the forest area exceeds 33 % of the total land area, then the States may now be allowed exemption from compulsory afforestation in lieu of land acquired for industry. Under the current circumstances this leeway is available to a state only if its forest area was above 50% of the total land. If a certificate is issued by the state chief secretary stating that there is non-availability of land for the purpose, then the Centre is ready to consider the relaxation from compulsory afforestation.
The new move would come in handy for power and coal projects in acquiring forest land. The project developer also has the option of paying money equivalent to double the value of the acquired land under the current exemption.
The power minister Piyush Goyal recently requested the environment minister Prakash Javadekar to allow these exemptions and he has agreed to support required policy changes. Accordingly, Javadekar asked the power ministry to move a Cabinet note to this effect.
The Madhya Pradesh government had already allowed a similar concession to Reliance Power’s Sasan ultra mega power project. The existing policy states that the environmental clearance for power projects based on captive coal blocks should be issued only when the first stage forest clearance for the mine is in place. However the environment minister has also agreed to take a fresh look, in consultation with the law ministry about this existing policy.
Source- The Financial Express
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