Is Jairam Ramesh fighting a losing battle?

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Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh has more than once declared his resolve to have 30% forest cover in the country but the big question is whether he is fighting a losing battle against the proponents of development.

Earlier this month, Mr Ramesh, during a visit to Bengaluru, had said one of his top priorities is getting a `No go area’ demarcated along the ecologicaly sensitive Western Ghats, so that the flora and fauna there are not affected by development projects.

However, at the central level, events are not taking the course Mr Ramesh would have liked them to. A Group of Ministers (GoM), comprising Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, home minister P. Chidambaram and Planning Commission chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, are looking into the various projects for which environmental clearances were sought and were turned down by the ministry of environment and forests(MOEF).

The GOM obviously, has different priorities as the projected economic growth rate for the 12th five-year plan period is 9-9.5%.

On Friday, at a Regional Consultation of the Planning Commission with southern states, Mr Ahluwalia said the GOM was looking into the issue of environmental clearance for coal supply to power projects. Sources said the conflict was not limited to coal supply with the GOM stepping up pressure to get many projects, which were turned down by the MoEF, approved.

In fact, the GOM does not mind taking a circuitous route to secure forest clearance for high profile steel plants and even national highway projects. “Recently, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) shot down a proposal by Korean steel giant POSCO to set up a unit in Orissa. Initially, the MoEF went along with the FAC recommendation, but after GOM intervention, the MoEF gave the go ahead to the project,’’ sources said.

Forest clearances for projects have to be vetted by the National Board for Wildlife (NBW) in the case of protected areas or the FAC, if the project is situated in a forest area, which is the law laid down by the Supreme Court. The FAC handles at least 30 cases every month and according to sources, very few projects clear the legal limits set by the Supreme Court. Recently, the FAC had turned down as many as three dam proposals in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

When contacted, director general of forests, P.G. Dilip Kumar admitted that many projects in forest areas are being scrutinized by the GOM because of the pressure from various quarters to get them approved.

``This is a delicate situation but we cannot afford to be too rigid either. In the case of the Bhopal IIT, we are examining the extent of land required by the college,’’ he said.