Forest land has been under immense pressure for its diversion for non forestry purposes. Important reasons for such diversion have been mining, irrigation, hydroelectric projects, encroachments for agriculture etc. To regulate indiscriminate diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes, Forest (Conservation) Act 1980 was enacted. It envisages seeking permission of Government of India before diversion of forest land. The enforcement of this Act has brought down the diversion of forest land considerably. It is evident from the fact that as against diversion of 15.65 lakh ha of forest land prior to 1980, only 1.21 lakh ha has been diverted thereafter. Thus a total of 16.86 lakh ha of forest land has been diverted for other purpose. The diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes cannot be avoided. It is, however, necessary to regulate the diversion in a manner so that it is minimal . In the Department, the wing of Land Management is entrusted the task of supervising the cases of diversion of forest land.

The prime responsibilities of the wing are:

• Processing fee
  

  The Government of Madhya Pradesh has prescribed registration and processing fee for every case involving diversion of forest land. Every application shall be registered in the office of the concerned Divisional Forest Officer. Registration fee is Rs. 1000 for every case and Processing fee is as follows:

           1- For departments of GOI

  S.No.	Class	Fee (Rs.)
  1	Land diversion cases upto 50 ha	10,000
  2	Land diversion cases between 51-100 ha	15,500
  3	Land diversion cases above 100 ha	20,000

      2- For departments and Public Sector Undertakings of GOMP

  S.No.	Class	Fee (Rs.)
  1	Land diversion cases upto 50 ha	5,000
  2	Land diversion cases between 51-100 ha	7,500
  3	Land diversion cases above 100 ha	15,000

            3- Private institution or individual.

  S.No.	Class	Fee (Rs.)
  1	Land diversion cases upto 5 ha	10,000
  2	Land diversion cases between 6 to 10 ha	20,000
  3	Land diversion cases above 11 to 15 ha	30,000
  4	Land diversion cases above 16 ha.	50,000

• Calendar for processing

  For the speedy disposal of the cases, a total time limit of 150 days have been prescribed in Forest (Conservation) rules 2003. Out of which 90 days are for State Government and 60 days for GOI. A calendar showing time limit has been set for forwarding the cases to Government of India for clearance. The calendar of time limit is as follows:-

   

  Action	Time limit
  Conservator of Forests to send proposal to Divisional Forest Officer after its Registration.	2 days
  Divisional Forest Officer to send back proposal to Conservator of Forests with his comments and scheme of Compensatory Afforestation	15 days
  Review by Conservator of Forests and if necessary ask for additional information from user agency.	5 days
  Conservator of Forest to send complete proposal with his comments to Chief Conservator of Forests (Land Management)	5 days

  The Government of India has setup a Regional Office for the speedy disposal of diversion cases involving forest land up to 5 ha. These offices also carry out field inspections related to the proposals submitted to Government of India. Besides this, the work of monitoring of stipulated conditions in the final sanction has also been entrusted to Regional Offices. The Regional office is headed by the Chief Conservator of Forest (Regional).

  The chief conservator of Forests, (Land Management & Forest Conservation Act) Satpuda Bhavan, Bhopal is the Nodal officer for scrutinizing and forwarding the case to Government of India through Government of M.P.The main responsibility of the Nodal officer is

  • to provide all the information sought by Government of India prior to clearance of the project

  • compliance of conditions stipulated in the first stage sanction

  • to monitor the implementation of condition stipulated in final sanction

  • report the non-compliance, if any to the Government of India .
     

A total of 131005.649 ha forest area relating to 646 cases  approved by GOI  has been diverted since 1980. The details of forest land diverted for different user agency is as follows :-

Compensatory Afforestation

While sanctioning the diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes, the Government of India stipulates the condition of compensatory afforestation either on equal area of non-forest land or on double the degraded forest land. If there is a violation of the Forest Conservation Act then GOI may also impose a condition of penal afforestation.

Net Present Value :