K A Shaji, TNN Apr 1, 2013
COIMBATORE: Tamil Nadu's failure to constitute a State Board for Wildlife (SBWL) is posing problems for at least three major projects mooted by the AIADMK government, including the much anticipated 2X500MW Coal-based Thermal Power Plant at Tuticorin.
According to top sources in the Union ministry of environment and forests, three proposals that came up for clearance were turned down at a recent meeting of the standing committee for National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), which said these were submitted directly by the state without getting the mandatory approval of the state board. The committee then found that Tamil Nadu was the only one state in the country that had not constituted the SBWL. Like NBWL, which frames wildlife protection policies at the national level, SBWL is expected to undertake the task at the state level. Any project that could have an impact on a protected wildlife area has to get the clearance of both SBWL and NBWL.
The refusal of NBWL to discuss the Tuticorin power plant mooted jointly by Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited and the state department of power happens at a time when Tamil Nadu is facing an extraordinary energy crisis. According to NBWL standing committee member and senior wildlife scientist A J T Johnsingh, there is no option left before the state government other than to constitute SBWL at the earliest. The NBWL clearance is mandatory for the Tuticorin project as it comes within the 10 km periphery of Mullakadu range of forests.
Proposals for a bridge on Chennai-Pulicat Road and a fish landing centre at Periyamongagodu near Thiruvallur are similarly stuck as NBWL standing committee has refused clearance. While 1.11 hectare of forest land from Pulicat Bird Sanctuary will have to be transferred for constructing the bridge on Pasiyavaram Road, the fish landing centre needs 0.65 hectare of forest land from the same sanctuary. NBWL will look at the proposals only after these are cleared by its state counterpart. "According to Section-6 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 (amended in 2006), each state government is bound to constitute a state board for wildlife under the chairmanship of the chief minister or administrator in the case of a Union territory. It is a curious case that Tamil Nadu is lacking such a board. It is high time the state government constituted the board as interests of wildlife must be protected while undertaking bigger development projects,'' said K Mohan Raj of Tamil Nadu Green Movement.
According to Johnsingh, Uttarakhand was giving Tamil Nadu company till last year. "But that state constituted the board in 2012 leaving Tamil Nadu as the only one without the board. Setting up the SBWL will help boost conservation and ensure protection of forest wealth. The Supreme Court has stressed the importance of review of projects by such a board on a number of occasions. The nation board can decide on projects only on the basis of the findings of the state board,'' he said.
Sources in the ministry said NBWL members, Kishore Rithe, Prerna Singh Bindra, M K Ranjit Singh and N Madhusudan, expressed concern that Tamil Nadu has approached the national body without even constituting its local board.
Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-04-01/coimbatore/38188792_1_nbwl-sbwl-state-board
COIMBATORE: Tamil Nadu's failure to constitute a State Board for Wildlife (SBWL) is posing problems for at least three major projects mooted by the AIADMK government, including the much anticipated 2X500MW Coal-based Thermal Power Plant at Tuticorin.
According to top sources in the Union ministry of environment and forests, three proposals that came up for clearance were turned down at a recent meeting of the standing committee for National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), which said these were submitted directly by the state without getting the mandatory approval of the state board. The committee then found that Tamil Nadu was the only one state in the country that had not constituted the SBWL. Like NBWL, which frames wildlife protection policies at the national level, SBWL is expected to undertake the task at the state level. Any project that could have an impact on a protected wildlife area has to get the clearance of both SBWL and NBWL.
The refusal of NBWL to discuss the Tuticorin power plant mooted jointly by Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited and the state department of power happens at a time when Tamil Nadu is facing an extraordinary energy crisis. According to NBWL standing committee member and senior wildlife scientist A J T Johnsingh, there is no option left before the state government other than to constitute SBWL at the earliest. The NBWL clearance is mandatory for the Tuticorin project as it comes within the 10 km periphery of Mullakadu range of forests.
Proposals for a bridge on Chennai-Pulicat Road and a fish landing centre at Periyamongagodu near Thiruvallur are similarly stuck as NBWL standing committee has refused clearance. While 1.11 hectare of forest land from Pulicat Bird Sanctuary will have to be transferred for constructing the bridge on Pasiyavaram Road, the fish landing centre needs 0.65 hectare of forest land from the same sanctuary. NBWL will look at the proposals only after these are cleared by its state counterpart. "According to Section-6 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 (amended in 2006), each state government is bound to constitute a state board for wildlife under the chairmanship of the chief minister or administrator in the case of a Union territory. It is a curious case that Tamil Nadu is lacking such a board. It is high time the state government constituted the board as interests of wildlife must be protected while undertaking bigger development projects,'' said K Mohan Raj of Tamil Nadu Green Movement.
According to Johnsingh, Uttarakhand was giving Tamil Nadu company till last year. "But that state constituted the board in 2012 leaving Tamil Nadu as the only one without the board. Setting up the SBWL will help boost conservation and ensure protection of forest wealth. The Supreme Court has stressed the importance of review of projects by such a board on a number of occasions. The nation board can decide on projects only on the basis of the findings of the state board,'' he said.
Sources in the ministry said NBWL members, Kishore Rithe, Prerna Singh Bindra, M K Ranjit Singh and N Madhusudan, expressed concern that Tamil Nadu has approached the national body without even constituting its local board.
Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-04-01/coimbatore/38188792_1_nbwl-sbwl-state-board
NLC Tuticorin power plant is located in Mullakadu Reserve Forest (RF) and also within 7 km of Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park (GOMMNP). A PIL filed by Tamil Nadu Green Movement in Madurai Bench of Madras High Court against the illegal diversion of Mullakadu RF without taking proper forest clearances as mandated under Forest Conservation Act also pending.
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