Green Flag Must For Mamata

The Telegraph 10th Aug 2009

Green flag must for Mamata SANJAY MANDAL

Calcutta, Aug. 10: The fates of one industrial unit Mamata Banerjee has proposed and one she has opposed now appear to hinge on one factor — an environment clearance. The state forest department today said it could not hand over the forest land in Purulia’s Adra to the railways for a thermal power plant without permission from the central environment and forest ministry.

The forest in Purulia’s Adra where Mamata wants the power plant. Picture by Mita Roy

Railway officials have chosen 1,032 acres there for the 1000MW plant announced by the railway minister in her budget. The land belongs to the railways but they had leased it to the state forest department for an afforestation drive 15 years ago and renewed it for another 10 years in 2008.

A Supreme Court directive bars the use of “forest land for non-forest purposes” without the Union environment ministry’s nod. “The railways will not be allowed to set up non-forest projects on forest land unless they get a clearance from the Union environment and forest ministry,” said the state’s principal chief conservator of forests A railway official conceded that if they had to go ahead with the project in Adra, it would be at the expense of some three lakh trees. “This is the only stretch available with us in the area for the project,” he said.

“If the land isn’t available, the plant’s future will become uncertain,” he added. A 1,000MW plant requires around 1,000 acres. A joint team of the railways and the National Thermal Power Corporation — a partner in the project — conducted a survey and selected the spot. The land, barren when handed to the forest department, is now a sea of lush green. Railway officials said they would soon discuss the issue with the Union environment ministry. “We will hold talks on the rules on afforesting another area to compensate for the loss of greenery,” the official said. The railway minister was not available for comment. According to railway sources, its officials had had informal talks with the local forest department, which said it would be difficult to obtain permission to fell so many trees. However, the Union ministry has in the past approved projects such as mining and hydropower generation on 1,000 acres or more of forests. Projects that require felling have to pay compensatory afforestation funds to state governments. A panel of experts determines the amount if the project is approved. The funds are to be used to rebuild lost forests elsewhere in the state or conservation. The chemical hub proposed by the state government on Nayachar island off Haldia is also awaiting clearance from the Union environment ministry. The project, which Mamata had opposed citing an ecologically fragile area, cannot take off without Delhi’s “green” signal. NTPC officials said the Adra plant would take three ye- ars to complete after the final clearance. Mamata plea Mamata today asked her education counterpart Kapil Sibal to act “urgently” to legalise degrees of thousands of

The Telegraph 10th Aug 2009 teacher trainees from institutions declared illegal by the Calcutta High Court, our special correspondent reports from Delhi. Sources said human resource development minister Sibal did not give the railway minister any assurance that the National Commission for Teacher Education would pardon violations in its norms by the institutes. He said the NCTE was “studying (its) options”.