Bhopal: Government of India has de-notified more than 480 acre forest land in Raisen district to boost industrial development and woo investors in Mandideep Industrial Area which is close to Bhopal, as per officials.
Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate change, in its letter dated September 2, 2021 to principal secretary, forest, Madhya Pradesh government has written, "..After careful consideration of the proposal by the forest advisory committee constituted by the Central government in principle/state-I approval for the proposal was granted by this ministry's letter of even number dated 20.12.2017 subject to fulfillment of certain conditions mentioned therein."
The ministry further states, "The state government has furnished compliance report in respect of the conditions stipulated in the in-principle /stage-I approval and has requested the central government to accord final/stage-II approval."
The letter states, "…..Final/stage-II approval is hereby accorded under 2(i) of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 for de-notification of 197.93 hectare of forest land for Mandideep industrial area in Raisen district, Madhya Pradesh subject to fulfillment of the following conditions…."
The conditions stipulated include conditions which need to be complied with prior to handing over of the forest land to the use agency by the state government and the conditions which need to be complied with after handing over of the forest land to the user agency.
The conditions include implementation of rehabilitation and resettlement plan, compliance of Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (Recognition of forest rights) Act, 2006, compensatory afforestation, obtaining environment clearance inter alia.
When contacted executive director of Madhya Pradesh Industrial Corporation (MPIC) Rishi Garg said collector Raisen had handed over government land to Industries department in 1973 for development of Mandideep Industrial area, out of which 488.90 acre was forest land. Now, the government of India has de-notified the forest land.
The IAS officer said the de-notification of the forest land would lead to expansion of the existing industrial units and development of the industrial area with more and more investment coming.