BHUBANESWAR: Days after granting stage-II clearance to the Chheligada medium irrigation project (MIP) at R Udayagiri block of Gajapati district in the state, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has accorded final approval for diversion of 341.23 hectare of forest land for construction of Upper Lanth MIP in Balangir district.
DIG of Forests in MoEFCC D Manjunatha in a communique to Water Resources department additional chief secretary Anu Garg has informed that on the basis of the compliance report furnished by the state government on November 3, 2023, the Centre has granted the Stage-II (final) forest clearance under Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 for non-forestry use of 341.23 hectare of forest land in which the proposed MIP has been planned.
In August 2018, the Odisha government had submitted its proposal for diversion of the forest land for construction of the irrigation project in Balangir, one of the major drought-prone districts, in the state. Granting an in-principle approval to the proposal, the MoEFCC had asked the latter to meet certain conditions for the same.
Accordingly, the Water Resources department submitted the compliance report leading to early approval of the state-II clearance for the project, officials said. The MoEFCC, however, has also asked the state government to comply to certain conditions in its state-II approval.
This includes adequate compensatory afforestation, compliance to the norms of Forest Rights Act 2006 among others. The state government will have to ensure that the compensatory afforestation is done within a period of three years with effect from the date of issue of stage-II clearance and take up their maintenance for a minimum 10 years. At least 1,000 saplings per hectare have to be planted in the land patches identified for compensatory afforestation.