BHUBANESWAR: The Chheligada medium irrigation project (MIP) proposed by the state government at R Udayagiri block of Gajapati district has received stage II environment clearance from the Centre.
The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), in a communique to the Forest department, conveyed the grant of stage II (final) approval under section II of the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980 on the basis of the compliance report furnished by the state government in March 2023.
As per clearance granted in favour of the Water Resources department, 139.19 hectares (ha) of forest land will be diverted for non-forestry use towards the Chheligada MIP in R Udayagiri block subject to over two dozen conditions, which include the legal status of the diverted forest land remaining unchanged and compensatory afforestation.
Towards compensatory afforestation, the state government has been directed to take up plantation over 147.25 ha of non-forest land transferred and mutated in favour of the Forest Department. It will also have to ensure additional compensatory afforestation on 25.48 ha of revenue forest land. The clearance mandated plantation of at least 1,000 saplings per hectare under compensatory afforestation which meant the Forest department would have to plant over 1.72 lakh saplings.
The government has also been asked to remove encroachment from a 12.5 ha area and take up plantation on the same as per the approved plan. The entire compensatory afforestation has to be completed within three years of the grant of the stage II clearance.
The MoEFCC also instructed the state government will ensure a catchment area treatment (CAT) plan over 1,600 ha is implemented at the cost of the user agency while an area of 15,660 ha shall be implemented by the project director, Watershed Parlakhemundi at a cost of Rs 5.07 crore. Besides, the Forest Rights Act must be complied with.
The irrigation project, after completion, is expected to help irrigate more than 6,000 hectares of farmlands in both Ganjam and Gajapati districts. That apart, it will produce 36 megawatts of electricity. The stage-I (in-principle) approval for the project was granted by the Ministry earlier in September.