Modi Govt. Clears Forest land for Anil Ambani

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Modi Govt. Clears Forest land for Anil Ambani

1169 acres for Cement plant in Yawatmal

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Feb 4

The Ministry of Environment and Forest has granted prior approval for diversion of 467.45 ha. of Forest Land for non-forestry purpose to M/s Reliance Cementation Private Limited, a company owned by Anil Ambani.

It is stated that the 1169 acres of land was given to Ambanis diverting Forest land in Pimaradwadi, Horapur and Govindpur villages of Yavatmal District of Maharashtra.

The Anil Ambani group is already in controversies due to Rafale deal and other issues. The company has also filed for insolvency recently. Now it emerges that the Maharashtra government and the Centre granted forest land to him for setting up a cement factory.

The Maharashtra government told the Centre that proposed area does not fall under any National Park, Wildlife Sanctuary, Biosphere Reserve, Tiger Reserve, Elephant Corridor etc. and no protected area was located within 10 kilometres distance from the forest land proposed for diversion in favour of M/s Reliance Cementation Private Limited, in Pimaradwadi, Horapur and Govindpur villages of Yavatmal District of Maharashtra.

The state government sent the proposal to the Centre for its prior approval which agreed and granted the same.

The Forest land is not acquired but the forest land is given to the User Agency by the State Government for non-forestry purpose and Compensatory Levis such as Compensatory Afforestation cost, Net Present Value and other charges are deposited by the User Agency in Compensatory Afforestation Fund.

In this case M/s Reliance Cementation Private Limited has deposited Rs. 52,06,22,016.63/- ( Fifty Two Crore Six Lakh Twenty Two Thousand Sixteen and sixty three paisa) amount as compensatory levies in Compensatory Afforestation Fund of Maharashtra.

The Minister of state for Environment & Forest Mahesh Sharma confirmed the information in Rajya Sabha today.

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Maha contributed Rs 8.78 L Cr, gets less than 10% funds!

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Exclusive report

How Maharashtra gets a raw deal from Centre

Contributed Rs 8.78 lakh crores, got less than 10% funds

Southern states also seeking justice as UP, Bihar reaping harvest

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, April 24

It has now surfaced how revenue earning states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh etc are paying a heavy price as they are forced to feed those states who have grown in population.

The document showed that Maharashtra contributed Rs 3.14 lakh crores in the central kitty by way of taxes during 2016-17. But the Centre gave it back only Rs 33714 crores. In fact, Maharashtra is the largest earning state for the country year after year and contributed Rs 8.78 lakh crores during 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17. But it got Rs 79421 crores only during this period which is not even 10% of what it contributed in the Central kitty. Though Maharashtra's own population grew by 123% between 1971-2011 period as per the census. Yet it was given back less than 10% of money it earned while states like UP & Bihar thrived.

The documents show that U P which contributed to the central kitty Rs 81459 crores by way of taxes during the three year period from 2014-15 to 2016-17. But the state was given back Rs 2.67 lakh crores which was more than three times. The UP's population grew by 138% between the 1971-2011 period. But the difference between the allocation of funds to Maharashtra and UP was only to be seen to be believed. 

The document made a shocking revelation that Bihar contributed only Rs 16469 crores during 2014-15, 2015-16 & 2016-17 but it got 10 times the money during the same period. Bihar got Rs1.45 lakh crores for its development from the central kitty. Surprisingly, Bihar is clamouring for being granted the status of a backward state and wanting huge funds for development. This is despite the fact that lakhs of farmers have committed suicide in Maharashtra largely because the formula for distribution of resources has made the state suffer most. Maharashtra is the worst sufferer as the document showed because despite a population growth of 123%, its share is not even 10% of revenue what it contributes year after year.

The plight of other states as given in the table is an eye-opener. Be it Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh or Karnataka, they all are suffering to feed the laggards.

Of course, the new Finance Commission may re-look at the distribution of resources as there is a growing demand that some north Indian states must check population growth.

Minister of State in the Finance Ministry Shiv Pratap Shukla while tabling the document in Parliament said the central taxes and duties are released to states as per the recommendations of the Finance commission. He wouldn't say any thing more on the issue.

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