Environmental body pulls up Odisha government for building violation in forest land

Sub: Env

Sec: Env legislation

Context:

The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Union Environment Ministry reprimanded the Odisha government for building walls on forest land without approval for the proposed Shree Jagannath International Airport in Puri.

Details:

The FAC also requested the State’s Wildlife Warden to assess the impact of the proposed airport on Olive Ridley turtles, which breed near the coast.
The proposed Puri airport will use 27.887 hectares of forest land and involve felling 13,504 trees, encompassing a total of 471 hectares, including non-forest land.
The Airports Authority of India identified the site in 2021, and the Ministry of Civil Aviation issued the site clearance certificate in September 2023.
The airport’s total projected cost is ₹2,023 crore and will be built by a public-private consortium.

Forest Advisory Committee (FAC)’s Role:

FAC is a statutory body, established under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980.
FAC evaluates industrial projects requiring forest land.
- The FAC considers questions on the diversion of forest land for non-forest uses such as mining, industrial projects, and townships and advises the state government on the issue of granting forest clearances.
The committee can approve, reject, or impose conditions on projects diverting forest land.
Satellite images revealed unauthorised wall construction by an unspecified agency without FAC and Union Environment Ministry approval.

Source: TH