SHILLONG, April 16 NNN: The Gauhati High Court has asked the Meghalaya government to implement the strict directives issued by the Ministry of Environment & Forest pertaining to the violation of Forest Conservation Act, 1980 by cement companies at Jaintia Hills even as it directed that the report should be submitted within three months. The recent ruling of the High Court came following a writ petition filed by the Jaintia Hills based NGO – Jaintia Youth Federation (JYF) against eight cement plants in Jaintia hills for setting up their factories in forest land. Notably, the MoEF had in November last year, issued a number of strict directives to the state government with regards to the matter while referring to the report a joint inspection team of State Forest department and MoEF which in their report stated that “838 ha of land have been assessed as forest land while remaining 1140 ha of land already acquired or under process of acquisition by the said cement companies is yet to be ascertained whether it is forest land or not”. The government is asked to undertake a joint inspection of the remaining 1,140 acquired or under process of acquisition by the said cement companies to ascertain the status of forests, based on which issue a certificate in this regard, the order stated while asking to submit a copy of the joint inspection report to the Ministry within 3 months. JYF president Poipynhun Majaw said that the court has ordered the government to request the Forest Survey of India (FSI) Dehradun to furnish their opinion on the status of forest in 57.56 ha of land acquired by Meghalaya Cement Ltd (star cement) whole status could not be ascertained after joint inspection. “The order further directed the government to ensure that no non-forest activity is undertaken in the land, which after joint inspection has already been certified as “forest”, till approval of Central Government under the FC Act is obtained,” . Government has also been asked to prepare geo reference map and till such geo reference map is prepared, no new cement plant may be allowed to be set up. “The government is directed to take action in terms of the directives issued by MoEF, and file a report of the action taken,” it stated. The next hearing on the case is scheduled on May 3.
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