Despite Centre's directive, states fail to authorise DFOs for survey
Despite a directive from the Union Environment Ministry authorising Divisional Forest Officers (DFOs) or Deputy Conservators of Forests (DCFs) to grant permission for survey and exploration activities in forest areas, several mineral-rich states have yet to comply.
The states include Odisha, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa.
The ministry has said the non-implementation of the directive is delaying the processing and disposal of proposals related to the survey and exploration of minerals, ores, and oil and gas. Under the procedure, based on the requirement of survey and investigation, a user agency is permitted by the Divisional Forest Officer to collect samples from forest areas for further analysis or other relevant purposes.
Last year, the Environment Ministry authorised Divisional Forest Officers or Deputy Conservators of Forests to grant permission for proposals related to survey and exploratory drilling in forest areas. As per the guidelines, a DFO is required to record observations and recommendations on a survey proposal within one month of receiving it from a user agency.
“It has been observed that so far, only a few States have authorised the respective Divisional Forest Officer or Deputy Conservator of Forests to give permission for survey and explorations, in pursuance to the said guidelines. Further, in most States/UTs, the approval for such proposals are being granted at the Nodal Officer or State Government level. This situation is causing delays in the approval of such proposals,” the ministry said in a letter.
A survey, under the newly implemented Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980 — earlier known as the Forest Conservation Act — is defined as “any activity to be taken up prior to initiating a project for the purpose of exploring, locating or proving mineral deposits including coal, petroleum and natural gas before carrying out actual mining in the forest land, that includes survey, investigation, prospecting, exploration, including drilling therefore, etc.”
