एनबीडब्ल्यूएल की 23वीं बैठक का संशोधित एजेंडा आइटम नंबर 1

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----- Start of picture text -----<br> ERB. Government of India<br>tenon Ministry of Environment and Forests<br>pnt (Wildlife Division)<br>(e%:) Paryavaran Bhawan,<br>jaropat CGO Complex, Lodi Road,<br>New Delhi -110003.<br>----- End of picture text -----<br>

F. No. 6-43/2007 WL-I(pt) Dated: 7" October 2011

To,

All Members, Standing Committee of NBWL.

Sub: Revised Agenda Item No. 1 of the 23 Meeting of Standing Committee of NBWL.

Sir/Madam,

Kindly refer to the agenda items for discussion during the 23" meeting of the Standing Committee of NBWL to be held on 14” October, 2011 at 11:00 Hrs. in Room No. 403, Paryavaran Bhawan, New Delhi under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment and Forests. In this context, | am directed to attach herewith a revised agenda item no. 1 (Conformation of the minutes of Standing Committee of NBWL meeting held on 25" April 2011) of the 23" Meeting of Standing Committee of NBWL.

/ Yours faithfully, (Prakriti Srivastava) Deputy Inspector General (WL) Telefax: 011-24360704 E-mail: digwl-met@nic.in

Encl: As above. Distribution:

1. Director General of Forests & Special Secretary, MoEF.

2. Director, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.

3. Dr. Asad Rahmani, Director, BNHS, Mumbai-23.

4. Shri Kishor Rithe, President, Satpuda Foundation, Amravati-444607.

5. Executive Director, Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore - 570 002.

6. Shri Briendra Singh, 28, Sunder Nagar, New Delhi-110003.

7. Dr. M.K. Ranjitsinh, “Krishnasaar’, No.5 Tiger Lane, W6 C Lane, Sainik Farms, New Delhi-62.

8. Dr. Divyabhanusinh Chavda, “Suryodaya”, 310 Gom Defence Colony, Vaishali Marg, Jatpur-302021.

9. Dr. AJ.T. Johnsingh, 101 Magnolia, Esteem Gardenia, Sahakara Nagar, Bangalore560092.

10. Ms. Prerna Bindra, Environment Journalist, 2/13, Iris, Jasmine Street, Watika City, Sector 49, Gurgaon — 122003, Haryana.

Copy to:

1. PS to Hon’ble MOS (I/C) E&F. 2. PPS to DGF&SS/PPS to Addl. DGF(WL) 3. PS to IGF(WL)/PS to DIG(WL)

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REVISED AGENDA ITEM NO. 1 OF THE 23"” MEETING OF STANDING COMMITTEE OF NBWL TO BE HELD ON 14'" OCTOBER 2011.

Comments received from members on the minutes of the 22°" meeting of Standing Committee of NBWL held on 25" April 2011.

Dr. M.K. Ranjitsinh:

Item No. 4.1(6) : Permission for 330MW Dholpur Gas based combined cycle thermal power project stage - IT......

After the existing Ist paragraph ending " -- 3% every year ", the following be added before the existing 2nd paragraph " Dr. M.K.Ranjitsinh, supported by some other members, suggested that in view of the report of the Wildlife Institute, the proposal should be rejected. The Chairman, however, stated that this was an ongoing project which he himself had inaugurated and that while the Standing Committee would not consider new projects on the Chambal in future, the on going projects should be allowed. On the grounds that it was an ongoing projects, the Committee accepted the study report and decided --------" . The phrase " after discussions ----" be deleted. As the documents submitted to the Standing Committee do not show whether or not this project is an ongoing one, kindly do ensure that this is the case as the Chairman had pointed out, because it was only on this ground that the project was cleared and subsequent new one (Item 4.18Kanera Lift Irrigation), was rejected. It may be pointed out that if it is a new Stage - II proposal as it appears to be, it would be a new proposal and not the continuation of Stage - I, which may have been ongoing as the Chairman pointed out. Therefore, before issuing the clearance of the Standing Committee to this proposal, do ascertain the status of this project and whether it is in fact ongoing or not.

Item 4.1(3) Trikuta Wildlife Sanctuary and 4.1(4) Bahu Conservation Reserve --------

The State Government of J&K has already decided to establish a new sanctuary for the endangered Markhor in the Pir Panjal Range in lieu of the proposed denotification of the Trikuta Sanctuary. I have made an alternate suggestion to declare as a sanctuary the Kalamund - Tatakuti tract, which is a superior area for Markhor and other endangered species conservation and also in the Pir Panjal, than the proposed Khara Galli area. My letter to the Chief Wildlife Warden, J&K is herewith appended.

Item 5.1 - Diversion of 21.132 ha of forest land from Hazaribagh Wildlife Sanctuary ----

At the end of penultimate sentence ending" ........Chief Wildlife Warden had recommended the proposal", the following be added : " Dr. Ranjitsinh pointed out that a very large number of trees numbering 11808 were proposed to be felled for this project and a spot inspection is needed. However, it was decided to recommend........."

Items 5.2 to 5.14 -- To the very best of my memory, no approval "in principle" was granted to these 13 proposals, but it was decided that fresh proposals would be sent by the State Government in the 4 categories that have been mentioned in the 2nd paragraph below these proposals. My colleagues would perhaps like to comment on whether my surmise above is correct or not,

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Item 5.15 -- Maintenance and Repair of roads passing through National Parks/Sanctuaries in Madhya Pradesh

Apart from the 14 conditions imposed for this clearance, there were certain generic conditions which were agreed to and should be placed above the 14 conditions already prescribed. And these were that (a) they would be no widening of existing roads (b) the nontarred roads will continue to remain non-tarred and only the existing tarred roads will be repaired with tarring without any widening of the same.

Item 5.18 -- Permission for Kanera Lift Irrigation------

A new 3rd paragraph be added to the summary record for this item, which may read as follows "The Chairman stated that in view of the report of the Wildlife Institute, no new proposal for water diversion from the Chambal would now be approved".

Item 5.29 -- Permission for laying underground water supply------

At the end of the Ist para ending " ..........the Chief Wildlife Warden", the following be added " Dr. M.K.Ranjitsinh drew the attention to fact that 6137 trees were proposed to felled in the Sanctuary, which is already very sparse in forest cover. However, the proposal was recommended....." Dr Kishore Rithe: Agenda no 2[4.2(5)] Diversion of 879.666 ha (840.00 ha of forest land and 39.666 ha of revenue forest land) for Mandla North underground mining coal block in respect of M/s Jaiprakash Associates Ltd, Distt. Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh the minute have mentioned that '' The Member Secretary informed that comments of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) were awaited in this matter and the Member Secretary, NTCA informed that he was studying the report.".However the committee had submitted the report to NT'CA on 6th June 2010 and recommended that "as the said project comes in the tiger corridor connecting Pench to Satpuda Tiger Reserve in MP,it should not be cleared".Please note that there are more than 10 such proposals in the same area and all these proposals would come to NBWL, once you clear this.This is really detrimental for the northern tiger corridor between Pench and Satpuda.

Dr. T.R. Shankar Raman:

Agenda Item 2 [4.1(9)] Construction and upgradation of 12 existing Rural roads under PMGSY to provide all weather road connectivity to the villages in Bagdara Wildlife Sanctuary, M. P.

It is indicated in the Summary Records that {The Member-Secretary] also informed that the site inspection team had recommended 10 out of 12 roads. Following two roads were not recommended by the Members’ inspection team: (a) Naudihwa to Khairpur (b)Bichibagdara main road to Khamhardih

The Committee after discussion, decided to accept the recommendations of[the][site][inspection] team subject to the following conditions...

We are grateful that the committee has accepted our recommendations and listed out certain

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conditions; however, as per our recommendations, it is important that some additional details are clearly included in the conditions for the project to avoid confusion in the future:

1. The recommendations in our report clearly suggest permission only for improving the existing roads by upgrading to gravel roads. We have specified that no black-topping or ndments/additions.ection conducted byMis:herLebePremafauff,also"BindraiattachedKk edieFtwith the pe= ne i ; = ° anedlCisic poe1D: i eee( P1 aei “eee——j at minutes. roposed by Ms. Prerna Bindra are given below: The major amendinenta/addiions

orest land for construction of Ropeway from Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary by Usha Breco Ltd . = ? mments/objections raised in the meeting are not 2 items were rushed through through leaving little time for for 's and objections and objections objections raised during during the meeting by all eafter should be should be be officially recorded recorded . Following is _Prerna Bindra subsequently subsequently through e.mail.

2[4.2(4) Babes,oon il a vis Paavashy Taley to ene) Eerie a Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

mments/objections raised in the meeting are not ee Fee 5 2 items were rushed through through leaving little time for for AGiRsion GE WER TE otsey . 's and objections and objections objections raised during during the meeting by all Seta a mmeGeis eafter should be should be be officially recorded recorded . Following is the te ioe ;eccped' nies ceivedon Mt _Prerna Bindra subsequently subsequently through e.mail. ae q t land in Kutch Desert Wildlife Sanctuary and oe as| spatiale sted ss. of Gaduli. to Hajipir-Odma-Khavyda-Kunriya-we . Wild Ass: Sanctuary for Constructio ar Road (S.H. Road) Gujarat. Dholavira-Maovana-Gadakbet-Santal

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The non-official members were unanimously of the opinion that the construction of such a road would have a devastating impact on the Kutch Desert Wildlife Sanctuary and Wild Ass Sanctuary. Dr Ranjitsinh and Shri Divyabhanusinh pointed out that the road was in close proximity to the only habitat of the wild ass and also the Flamingo City, which is the only breeding site of the Greater Flamingo in the country. The availability of an alternate road was also suggested.

4.1 (3) Proposal for denotification of entire area of Trikuta Wildlife Sanctuary (31.40 Sq. Kms), Jammu and Kashmir.

Dr Ranjitsinh also stressed that denotification of a PA, ifany, must be replaced by an equal | or more amount of suitable area being notified as PA, or attached to an exisiting PA before the denotification. The chair differed and stressed that in principle he did not agree as it was not practical.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 5: Any other item with the permission of the Chair.

After the main agenda items were discussed, following proposals that had been received by the members on April 22" were taken up for discussion as additional agenda items. Most non-official members expressed their concern on taking up additional agenda items as they were not fully prepared to discuss the items.

The non-official members also expressed their concern that matters pertaining to wildlife conservation and policy were not being taken up in the meetings, and that Agenda items proposed by non-official members related to wildlife protection and conservation issues many of which are urgent, were also not being discussed. In view of this, the chair suggested to have a separate Standing Committee meeting to discuss agenda items proposed by the nonofficial members, and issues pertaining to wildlife protection and conservation policies regarding the same.

5.2 Construction and Upgradation of 2.5 km. road from Khatola to Kisli, M.P.

5.3 Construction and Upgradation of 2.6 km Road from 14 km off T-2 to Mukki, M.P. 5.4 Construction and Upgradation of 5.13 km Road from Rajomal to Manoharpur, M.P.

5.5 Construction of Stop dam cum Causeway on Rehti- Tendukheda Road at Km 82/2, M.P.

5.6 Construction and Upgradation of 6 km Tendukheda- Taradehi- Sarra to Kudpura Approach Road, M.P.

5.7 Approach road from Somkheda to Hinouti— Ramgarh, M.P.

5.8 Construction and Upgradation of 4.20 km of Bamhori to Kotkheda Road, M.P.

5.9 Construction of MDR to Mokla Road, M.P.

5.10 Construction of 14.20 km road for NH-12, 7 km. to Malkuhi Jhilpani Dhana, M.P.

5.11 Construction of 4.73 km Somkheda-Suhela Approach Road, M.P.

5.12 Upgradation of 8.55 km road from Bineka to Borpani, M.P.

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5.13 Widening of State Highway 59 from Indore to Gujrat Border, M.P.

5.14 Upgradation of Bhiapur to Amchhekala Dam Road, M.P.

Was there in-principal approval—even of construction? Very doubtful. The decision, to the best of my knowledge was,that no gravel road in PAs to be converted to black top, though existing roads, can be repaired as long as they remain in the same form-with no widening, new construction or diversion. The rest-especially, of construction/widening was to be deferred till information on the same came in, and a final view on individual proposals would be taken on receipt of the information by the Chairman, Standing Committee in consultation with Members ofthe Committee

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