4-member panel to study wildlife clearance to Reliance Cement in Yavatmal

NAGPUR: The greenfield cement project of Birla Corporation Limited’s wholly owned subsidiary Reliance Cement Company Private Limited (RCCPL) in Mukutban area of Yavatmal district will have to wait for now as a four-member committee has been appointed to study the wildlife clearance proposal.
The RCCPL on January 22, 2018, had received Stage-II clearance from the environment ministry for the diversion of 467.45 hectares reserved forest land under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.There was no mention about clearance from the forest department’s wildlife wing.
The tiger-bearing area falls in compartment numbers C-26, C-27, and C-33(A) falling in Hirapur, Govindpur, and Pimparwadi villages in Zari-Jamni taluka under Pandharkawada forest division in Yavatmal forest circle.
According to the documents, there are resident tigers in the diverted area. On April 26, a gravid tigress with four cubs in the womb was burnt to death by miscreants in the Mukutban range. The area is on the northern side of the proposed cement plant.
The land diversion hit hurdles in 2019 when it was found that the entire forest area proposed to be diverted falls in the tiger corridor of Tipeshwar wildlife sanctuary-Tadoba-Andhari and Kawal tiger reserves.
The patch is also the part of the Tiger Conservation Plan (TCP) approved by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (TATR) in 2016-26. Section 38 (O) (1) (g) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act (WPA), 1972, calls “to ensure that tiger reserves and areas linking one protected area or tiger reserve with another protected area or tiger reserve are not diverted for ecologically unsustainable uses, except in public interest and with the approval of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) and on the advice of the NTCA”.
The NTCA too had sought a report about the project falling in the corridor. Accordingly, PCCF (wildlife) Nitin H Kakodkar had sought a proposal on wildlife clearance from then filed director of Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR).
“Now, before clearing the ground for wildlife clearance, the state chief wildlife warden has set up a four-member committee to study the proposal. The committee will conduct a site visit before making a decision,” said sources.
The committee will be headed by CCF & field director of MTR, conservator of Yavatmal Circle, state wildlife board member Kishor Rithe, and Yavatmal honorary wildlife warden Ramzan Virani. The committee has been asked to submit the report in one month.
TOI on August 26, 2019, was the first to report about it. The company will now have to seek clearances from the State Board for Wildlife (SBWL) followed by NBWL.
In 2018, clearance to the Reliance cement project had snowballed into a big controversy as wildlife activists alleged Pandharkawda tigress T1 aka Avni was shot dead to pave the way for the cement plant. But the proposed area is 70km (as crow flies) from T1 territory.
Sources said the forest to be diverted is of high value with 0.4 density. There are resident tigers in the area and the forest is contiguous the plant will break connectivity.
The application seeking diversion of forest land was officially moved in July 2009 and in-principle approval came in 2012, but due to non-compliances, the proposal was pending. The final approval came in January 2018 after completing all the formalities including payment of net present value (NPV). The Birla Corporation plans to invest Rs2,400 crore in the project.