General

• Before taking-up construction of any Transmission Line, 'Plan Investment Clearance' is required from Planning Commission, Govt., of India after Technical clearances from CEA and Planning Commission etc. The 'Plan Investment Clearance' in respect of any transmission line is not issued by the Planning Commission unless Forest & Environmental Clearance is obtained from Ministry of Environment & Forest, Govt., of India. Therefore, 'Forest & Environmental clearances' is a basic & important pre-requisite for taking-up actual execution of work of a transmission line.
• As per Guide lines of' 'FOREST CONSERVATION ACT-1980' issued by Ministry of Environment & Forest, Govt., of India, wherever the lines are required to be laid in forest areas, the efforts should be made to avoid forest as far as possible. However, where it is absolutely unavoidable, the efforts should be made to adopt such a route of transmission line which involves minimum felling of trees and use of such land is allowed only after clearance from Govt., of India as per Section 2 of the Forest Conservation Act-1980.
• No subsequent change or modification should be done in the transmission lines laid in 'Forest' areas as far as possible.
• No proposal seeking Ex-post-facto approval of the Govt., of India under the Act is entertained from any State Govt./SEB.

Corridor Required for Transmission Lines

• As per Indian Safety Rules, the corridor required for transmission lines of different voltage class, is given in the table given below.
  For the purpose of transportation of stringing equipment a 3 meter wide strip under each phase is allowed to be kept clear from trees so that proper maintenance and overhauling of line could he carried out.
  However, natural growth of trees is allowed after stringing, subject to minimum safety clearances between the phase conductors and the trees as per details given in the following table—

TABLE 11.I

Applicability of Forest Conservation Act 1980

• Investigation and Surveys carried out in connection with the laying of transmission lines in Forest areas will not attract the provision of the Forest Conservation Act 1980, if no felling of tree is involved.
• The work of construction and laying of transmission line, however, fully attracts the provisions of the aforesaid Act and the prior permission of the Govt., of India must be obtained before it is allowed in forest area.

Nodal Officer

• The whole time senior officer not below the rank of Conservator of Forest heads the cell at the Forest Deptt. level, who is designated as the Nodal Officer. The Nodal Officer shall receive cases from the departments and entertain all correspondence from them.

Submission of Proposal for Forest Clearance

• The proposal for obtaining environmental and forest clearance shall be submitted in the prescribed format as at Annexure-1.
• Submission of proposals and the powers vested with various authorities of Forest Deptt. are summarized in the following table.

TABLE 11-II

Note:

• For obtaining approval involving 5 Hectares, cost of 10 times the number of trees to be removed, subject to maximum of 2500 trees per Hectares shall have to be paid. The land in such cases shall be made available by the Forest Deptt. itself.
• In case of plain areas, the area of the land required for compensatory a forestation, shall be equal to that of the affected forest area.
• In case of Hills, the area of land required for compensatory a forestation shall be twice or double the area of the affected forest land.
• The land in such cases as at 2 & 3 above shall have to be got identified and made available by SEBs through District Administration.

Information Required to be Submitted Along with the Proposal

• The following information's/documents are inquired to be submitted along with the PROPOSAL on a prescribed FORMAT (Annexure-1)
• A brief note giving following essential details of the project for which the Forest land is required
• Cost outlays.
• Justification for locating the project in the forest areas giving alternatives that were examined and reasons for their rejection.
• Financial and social benefits.
• Total population benefited.
• Index map showing location of the area to be de-forested clearly indicating boundaries and details of the surrounding Forest Block in scale of 1: 50000 (Survey of India Maps).
• Species-wise and diameter class-wise list of trees to be felled for a meaningful] appraisal of the proposal.

Forest Clearance Where No Trees are Required to be Felled

• Only following information shall be required to be submitted in the prescribed format for obtaining forest clearance in case of those transmission lines, which do not involve felling of trees :—
  • Geographical location of transmission in along with Index map.
  • Purpose for which forest land is required to be used.
  • Area of forest land to be used.
  • Legal status of the forest land.
  • Whether forest land is Ear-marked for any National Garden/Park wild life, part of reserved wild life, vegetation or rehabilitation which are in danger of extinction.
  • Whether there is any other alternative route to save forest area, and whether the forest area being used, is minimum required for the purpose. In this regard a certificate of the Regional Forest Officer shall have to be submitted along with the proposal.
  • Compensatory A forestation Schemes.
  • A certificate clearly stating that no felling of tree is required in the proposal.

Compensatory A Forestation

• A forestation shall be done in the non-forest land of equal area.
• As far a possible such land shall be identified near the affected forest area.
• If such land is not available in the same district, then non-forest land of the adjoining or the nearest possible district shall be got identified and made available.

Specific Time Limit

To ensure speedy disposal of case under the Act, specific time limit have been laid down for disposal of such references at various levels. Efforts should be made to get disposed-off a case at the State Govt., level within maximum period of two months as laid down in the Act.

Remarks

The Guide-line clearly indicating forest Conservation Act-1980 and Forest Conservation Rules 1981 revised and updated up to 25-10-1992 is available with Nodal Officers of the Forest Deptt. on payment of Rs. 5/- only.