(a) the details of projects approved/ sanctioned for implementation in and around forest areas in the country during the last one year and the current year, area and State-wise;
(b) the distance in kms. of such mining and production areas from the forest areas;
(c) whether the wild life is likely to be affected; and
(d) if so, the measures taken to address this problem?
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR ENVIRONMENT, FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)
(a) & (b) The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has granted approval for diversion of forest land under the Forest (Con- servation) Act, 1980 to 783 proposals involving 35,867 ha of forest land for non-forestry purposes in the year 2014 while in the current year approval to 110 proposals involving 5,019 ha of forest land has been accorded by the Ministry. State wise detail of forest area diverted is given in Annexure-I. All the proposals seeking prior approval of the Central Government for use of forest land for non- forestry purposes fall within the forest area only.
(c) & (d) Non-forestry activities in the forest areas do have some impact on the wildlife of the area. The ministry while considering the proposals for diversion of forest land for non-forestry activities , thoroughly examines the proposals through Forest Advisory Committee and prescribes appropriate mitigative measures including conditions on com- pensatory afforestation, imposition of Net Present Value (NPV) and preparation of Wildlife Management Plan, etc. to reduce the adverse impact of the diversion of forest land. Loss of forest cover due to diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes is compensated by raising compensatory afforestation and also through regeneration activities in the degraded forest area from the funds received from the user agencies as Net Present Value of the diverted forest land.