Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 4: Minister for Forests Mian Altaf has said that 105 Ha Forest land has been diverted for the construction of 330 MW Kishan Ganga Hydel Project in Gurez, besides about 20 Ha has been diverted for construction of underground tunnels for the project.
He was replying to a Calling Attention Notice by Naeem Akhtar, in the Upper House today.
The Minister said 3864 trees, 1559 poles and 5792 saplings had to be removed to pave way for the execution of project work.
He said that an amount of Rs. 12.71 crore has been provided as compensation for diversion of forest land under Forest Conservation Act and has been deposited in CAMPA.
The NHPC has also released Rs. 3.96 crore on account of Catchment Area Treatment Plan, out of which Rs. 2.87 crore have been released to the Project Officer Kishan Ganga till date.
Under the Fisheries Management Plan, Rs. 25 lakh has been received by the Fisheries Department till date for development of Fisheries and creating infrastructure out of the Rs. 57 lakh agreed by NHPC.
As per the terms and conditions the user agency was asked not to dump debris on forest land, however when violations were observed in this regard, DFO Bandipora raised a penalty bill of Rs. 29.54 lakh in favour of Chief Engineer, NHPC for damaging trees at approved muck dumping sites and the amount stands recovered and remitted in treasury.
Similarly, after the Pollution Control Board raised the issue of problems caused by Muck disposal site, Chandigam Bandipora with the NHPC, the user agency stopped dumping of Muck at the site and took protection measures to rehabilitate the site.
Mr Altaf further informed that once the Muck disposal sites get fully stabilized and rehabilitated through afforestation, the problem of washing away of muck into Nallahs will stop. As per the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) there is a provision of Rs. 223 crore for Environment Conservation and Management, he added.
Regarding dislocation of Sheena speaking ethnic population of Gurez the minister informed that at the time of conceptualization of the project, initial proposal for construction of dam was upto 77 meters high, which could have resulted in major dislocation of Sheena speaking ethnic population. To prevent dislocation of people, the height of the dam was reduced down upto 37 meters which significantly reduced submergence of Gurez Valley and displacement of affected people. As a result only 2 villages namely Badwan & Khopri in Gurez Valley are affected.
The minister disclosed that a comprehensive plan of relief and rehabilitation has been formulated by the Revenue Department to the tune of Rs. 253.75 crores and has been agreed by NHPC which includes resettlement of affected people alongwith preservation of their ethnicity/ language etc. The rehabilitation plan is presently under process with the Revenue Department for its placement before the State Cabinet for approval.
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