By IANS,
New Delhi: The government has formed a four-member committee to consider and make recommendations on the impact of plans to divert 660.749 hectare of forest land for bauxite mining in Orissa’s Kalahandi and Rayagada districts, a statement said Wednesday.
The committee has been formed with immediate effect and will submit its findings within 30 days, the environment and forests ministry statement said.
The new committee will also examine the settlement of rights under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, particularly the specific impact on the livelihood, culture and material welfare of the Dongaria Kondhs, a notified primitive tribal group, and the impact on the wildlife and biodiversity in the surrounding areas.
The committee will be headed by retired Indian Administrative Service official N.C. Saxena. The other members are S. Parasuraman, director of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Promode Kant, retired Indian Foreign Services official and Amita Baviskar, associate professor at New Delhi-based Institute of Economic Growth.