Bhopal: Denizens of the forests did not find any mention in the discussions at the meeting of State Wildlife Board here on Monday. The meeting, held after a gap of one-and-a-half years, mainly approved mining and construction projects in national parks and sanctuaries.
It was decided to allow mining and construction within ten km radius of parks and sanctuaries. BALCO will now mine bauxite from the Kanha corridor while Khjuraho Minerals will extract minerals from Panna National Park area. Wind turbines will come up in Kharmaur sanctuary at Sailana. These and other similar proposals were cleared without much discussion.
When some members tried to raise issues related to protection of wildlife, CM Chouhan, who was in the chair, stopped them saying these would be discussed at a workshop at Kanha National Park in September.
JP Associates were permitted to mine limestone from Son Gharial sanctuary, State Minerals Corporation to extract sand from Satpura National Park and Jhulelal Mines to conduct mining operations in Ralamandal sanctuary. Besides Rajesh Tiwari was permitted to mine stones. Similar permissions were also granted to Venkateshwar Stone Crushers, Indore, Rajkumar Jat and Rajesh Nagori.
The Board also decided that after relocation of forest villages on forest land, it would be converted into revenue land while in case of relocation of revenue villages from forests, the vacated land would be converted into forest land.
It also decided to clear construction of the third railway line from Barkhera to Budhni in Ratapani sanctuary. Permission for doubling of broad gauge railway lines and electrification was permitted in Sanjay Tiger Reserve and Son Gharial sanctuary.
