On the directions of ministry of environment and forests (MoEF), the committee, headed by principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) for wildlife A K Joshi and five others including National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) representative Kishor Rithe visited Tiroda on June 22. However, the committee bypassed Garada.
The mandate of the committee was to study likely impact on wildlife and corridor between Pench Tiger Reserve, Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary and Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR). The proposed area has been sought by APML for expansion of its power plant in Tiroda. According to sources, the committee visit started at 11 am and ended at 6 pm. During these seven hours, the panel did not visit Garada where huge trenches were dug up by the APML on forest land without any clearance.
Two separate offences — one on May 16 and another on June 4 — were registered against Adani Power for digging trenches in survey number 163 in Mendipur in the proposed forest land wanted by Adani. The forest department is going slow over the case. After registering case no further action has been taken.
The team travelled over 120 km studying linkages and corridor connectivity. The members included deputy conservators of Gondia and Bhandara Mukesh Ganatra and Yashbir Singh respectively, conservationist Prafulla Bhamburkar, deputy conservator M M Kulkarni and assistant conservator (ACF) Kishore Mishrikotkar.
Joshi was not available for comments. The committee has sought data of wildlife and plantations in the proposed area from Bhandara and Gondia forest divisions. The report is expected to be prepared in a day or two and will be sent to the NTCA. Much depends on this report as NTCA has already made it clear that since the linkage covers important tiger area of Central India, it is not advisable to divert forest land mentioned in the proposal.
A wildlife conservationists asked, “is the committee really serious about protecting Nagzira?
It is surprising it did not visit the site where FCA violations took place." Another said, “it is not just about linkages or corridors. The other major issue is that proposed area is just 8.5 km from Nagzira. What about fly ash from power plant falling over the sanctuary?''
By Vijay Pinjarkar, Nagpur
