SHILLONG, APR 16: Meghalaya government has been directed by the Guahati high court to strictly enforced the directives issued by the Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoE&F) with regard to violation of Forest Conservation Act, 1980 by cement companies in Jaintia hills and accordingly must submit the report within three months.
The high court directive which was issued recently follows a writ petition filed by the Jaintia hills based NGO – Jaintia Youth Federation (JYF) against eight cement plants in Jaintia hills for setting up factories in forest land.
In November last year, the MoE&F had issued a number of strictures to the state government in setting up cement companies in forest land while referring to the report of a joint inspection team of the State Forest department and MoE&F .
In the report of the joint inspection team it was stated that “838” hectares of land had been assessed as forest land while remaining 1140 hectares land which has already been acquired or was under process of acquisition by cement companies was yet to be ascertained if it is forest land or not.
The court directed the Meghalaya government to undertake a joint inspection of the remaining 1,140 hectares of land that has been acquired or is under the process of acquisition by the cement companies and ascertain its status whether it is forests land. Accordingly, the court directive said, the state government should issue a certificate making it clear whether the land is a forest land or not while saying that it must also submit a copy of the joint inspection report to the MoE&F within three months.
Addressing a news conference on Tuesday, JYF president Poipynhun Majaw informed said that the court has ordered the government to request the Forest Survey of India (FSI) Dehradun to furnish their opinion on the status of forest in 57.56 hectrares of land acquired by Meghalaya Cement Ltd (Star Cement) whole status could not be ascertained after joint inspection.
“The order further directed the government to ensure that no non-forest activity is undertaken in the land, which after joint inspection has already been certified as “forest”, till approval of central government under the FC Act that has to be obtained,” Majaw added.
The court has also directed the Meghalaya government to prepare geo- reference map and till such geo reference map is prepared, no new cement plant may be allowed to be set up.
The next hearing is slated on May 3. – By Our Reporter
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