The NBWL will discuss diversion of 0.204 hectare forest land from Gautala-Autramghat wildlife sanctuary in Aurangabad district for laying a water pipeline, renovation of 220 KV old electricity transmission line passing through Tungareshwar sanctuary and Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SNGP), Borivali.
A proposal for construction of Balinga medium irrigation project at Balinga in Chikhaldara which falls within 8.5 km from the boundary of Melghat tiger reserve (MTR), and laying of 440 KV electric transmission line through Matheran eco-sensitive zone will also figure in the meeting.
Another sensitive issue about setting up of a steel plant and electricity generation unit, an extension of Welspun Max Steel Company in the non-forest area within 10 km of Phansad wildlife sanctuary in Raigad district will be discussed.
The State Board for Wild Life (SBWL) on June 28 has already cleared the projects and they are now before the NBWL. Stateas chief wildlife warden S K Khetarpal is expected to attend the meeting at Paryavaran Bhavan in Delhi.
According to sources, NBWL is set to discuss functioning of standing committee. In recent past, eyebrows have been raised against the functioning of NBWL, that cleared almost 20 projects in 45 minutes. Members are not given sufficient time to even study the papers much less study the projects themselves. Union environment and forest minister Jayanthi Natarajan agreed to the suggestion by some members to discuss functioning of NBWLas standing committee. Read the full report here.
Source: Vijay Pinjarkar, Times of India, Nagpur.
