Odisha: Govt Officials Face Scrutiny For Constructing Tribal School On Forest Land Without Clearance

New Delhi: The Union environment ministry has asked the Odisha government to take action against officials responsible for allowing construction of an Ekalavya Model Residential School (EMRS) in Keonjhar district without mandatory forest clearance.

The proposal for ex-post facto approval was considered by the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) in its meeting held on September 26.

Observation Made By The Committee

The committee observed that the "EMRS building has been constructed over 1.80 ha on the forest land proposed for diversion without obtaining prior approval of the environment ministry under the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980".

It said that the construction of the school, a flagship initiative of the Tribal Affairs Ministry and the Odisha government, took place "without prior approval", constituting a violation of the Forest Conservation Act.

The project site at Erendei village in Patna tehsil of Keonjhar district includes 2.803 hectares of Sabik (recorded) forest land and 0.456 hectare of non-forest land.

The district administration admitted the lapse, saying the construction was undertaken "in good faith" based on the then-available land records which classified the site as non-forest. Later verification of old records revealed the land had been previously recorded as "Jungle Kissam".

According to the state's submission, "the Tahasildar transparently reported the matter to the district welfare officer and the collector. Though construction was already underway, the matter was promptly reported to the Forest Department and a forest diversion proposal was initiated to regularize the inadvertent violation".

The committee also noted that "subsequent inspections by the DFO, Keonjhar, and the DIGF, IRO Bhubaneswar, confirmed that the construction had taken place in good faith, without any mala fide intent, based on the available land classification records at the time".

The FAC took a stern view of the procedural violation and directed that the state government examine the matter and initiate disciplinary action (if applicable) against the officials concerned for not being able to prevent use of forest land for non-forestry purposes without prior approval from the Centre.

It further recommended that "the penalty for violation shall be equal to NPV of forestland per hectare for each year of violation from the date of actual diversion... with maximum up to five (5) times the NPV plus 12 per cent simple interest".

The regional office of the environment ministry in Bhubaneswar, while supporting the proposal, also advised that "since the instant proposal is a public utility project, diversion of 2.8 ha of forest land is recommended with the condition that five times penal NPV, penal CA may be imposed and action against erring officials may be initiated besides the general standard conditions".

The school aims to provide quality residential education to tribal children in Keonjhar, one of Odisha's predominantly tribal districts.

The project is part of the Centre's plan to establish Ekalavya schools in every block having 20,000 tribal persons and 50 per cent ST population.

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