New Delhi: Allegedly violating the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, in May this year, the Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) issued a circular exempting the Ministry of Railways from seeking mandatory prior environmental clearance for few pending projects. Environmental activists had challenged the notice and filed an Right to Information (RTI) application. They allege that the MoEFCC is refusing to provide details of the exempted projects. The Sunday Guardian tried to contact the MoEFCC but received no comments from its officials.
Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 prohibits the use of any forest land for non-forest activities without prior approval of the Central government. According to the recent MoEFCC circular, the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, will not be applicable for doubling of track and gauge conversion projects, if the land is railway land and was under non-forest use prior to 1980. However, projects involving the construction of new lines would still need to apply for forest clearance.
Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Anil Sood, an environmental activist, alleged that the MoEFCC is attempting to hide the details of exempted projects. “We had filed an RTI on 29 July with MoEFCC to obtain details of the railway projects that had been granted exemption. The response to the RTI was that the ‘Question is Vague’. We have also been advised to visit the website link, but when you click on the link of their website, it says ‘server error’,” Sood said. He has also served a legal notice to MoEFCC and the Ministry of Railways for withdrawal of the circular.
“The circular violates the Supreme Court (SC) order. The ministries are working at cross-purposes. They are violating the law of the land under the garb of legal opinion, which is patently illegal,” Sood added.
He also pointed out that the definition of forests by the SC clearly says the classification of a forest cannot be changed and therefore, non-forest activity cannot be carried out. Sood’s legal notice is based on previous SC judgments where various benches of the apex court upheld the above mentioned position. In T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad vs Union of India, (1997) case, the SC observed, “The Forest Conservation Act, 1980 was enacted with a view to check further deforestation which ultimately results in ecological imbalance; and therefore, the provisions made therein for the conservation of forests and for matters connected therewith, must apply to all forests irrespective of the nature of ownership or classification thereof.”
Similarly, in the K. Balakrishnan Nambiar vs State of Karnataka, (2011) case, the SC said that Forest Conservation Act, 1980 applies to all the forests irrespective of the ownership or classification before or after implementation of Forest Conservation Act, 1980.
Environment activist Vandana Shiva sees it in the light of privatisation of railways. Shiva told The Sunday Guardian: “It shows that the government is freeing up the corporations from any kind of environmental responsibility. Since private players have now entered the scene, the government must make environmental approvals stricter rather than making them weaker.”
With a total worth of Rs 19,400 crore and spread over 800 hectares of land, the exempted railway projects could adversely impact ecologically sensitive areas like national parks, reserves and corridors across Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Goa.