FACT SHEET. The State Government has now submitted a proposal for renewal of diversion of forest land. The facts of the case are as below:

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1 Sub : Renewal of existing mining lease over an area of measuring ha of forest land in favour of M/s Ambuja Cement Ltd., Darlaghat Tehsil Arki, Distt. Solan, within the jurisdiction of Kunihar Forest Division, Distt. Solan, Himachal Pradesh. The proposal for renewal of diversion of ha of forest land was submitted and was proposed to be placed before FAC. However, in the meantime it was brought to notice that apart from the renewal proposal, another proposal for renewal of diversion of ha of forest land in the same mining lease was under consideration in the Ministry after having been recommended by SAG at Regional Office, Chandigarh. It was directed by ADGF that the two cases need to be merged now for holistic view and even otherwise because the two proposals are part of a single mining lease. Accordingly, the State Government was requested to submit a consolidated proposal for renewal of both diversion proposals. The State Government was also requested to submit a proposal for diversion of all forest land included in the mining lease in accordance with the recommendation of CEC submitted to and agreed by Hon ble Supreme Court in case of Odisha. The Regional Office was also advised not to process the proposal for renewal of diversion of ha forest land any further. In the meantime, the application for TWP over already broken up forest land of ha was recommended by the State Government. The application was not accepted in view of the fact that the user agency was not eligible for TWP in the light of timelines specified by the Supreme Court in this regard. The State Government has now submitted a proposal for renewal of diversion of forest land. The facts of the case are as below: i) The State Government has informed that the user agency was granted the lease of ha of forest land. Out of this, the user agency requested for diversion of ha of forest land only which was granted vide the two proposals, one at Regional Office level (19.38 ha) and another from Central Office of the Ministry (102.8 ha). Balance ha of forest land was not sought to be diverted. The State Government has been intimated by the user agency that this forest land is not going to be used for mining in next 20 years and the same has not been sought in the proposal under consideration. FACT SHEET 1. Name of the Proposal Renewal of existing mining lease over an area of measuring ha of forest land in favour of M/s Ambuja Cement Ltd., Darlaghat Tehsil Arki, Distt. Solan, within the jurisdiction of Kunihar Forest Division, Distt. Solan, Himachal

2 2. Location : (i) State (ii) District 3. Particulars of Forests : (i) Name of Forest Division (ii) Forest area involved (iii) Legal Status/Sy. No. (iv) Map 4. Topography of the area 5. (i) Vegetation (ii) Density Pradesh. Himahal Pradesh Solan Kunihar Forest Division ha. UPF Enclosed at p-265/c. Not specified. It has been stated that the tress over the proposed land have been counted and cost of trees paid in the year Whether area is significant from wildlife point of view Whether any violation of the Act has been done Break up of the land required Area is not part of National Park, Sanctuary, Biosphere Reserve etc. No ha of forest land has been demanded for mining and related purpose. Out of this 19.2 ha land has been broken up and rest ha land is unbroken. 7. Division/District Profile i) Geographical area of the District sq. Km ii) Forest area of the District (DPF & UPF) iii) Total forest area diverted since 1980 with number of cases iv) Total Compensatory Afforestation stipulated ha in 35 cases Forest land ha Non Forest Nil v) Progress of Compensatory Afforestation 12. Recommendation : (i) DFO (ii) Conservator of Forests (iii) Nodal Officer (iv) State Government Forest land ha Non forest land Nil Recommended by all. SITE INSPECTION REPORT The mining sites and the Cement Plants were visited by Shri Ishwar Singh, Conservator of Forests(Central) and Shri Surendra Kumar,Director(S) from Regional office on to assess the compliance status of different environment clearance letters and

3 forest approvals accorded by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India and the factual position at site. In addition to proposal under consideration, another approval was granted by the Northern Regional Office, Ministry of Environment & Forests for diversion of hectare of forest land in favour of the user agency for mining of limestone and shale for 10 years. This approval is expiring on As per report of DFO, Kunihar and CF, Bilaspur, no mining activity has been carried out at this forest land so far. Renewal proposal for this land has also been submitted to the Regional Office. The team inspected both sites and the observation of the team after inspection of mining sites and Cement Plants in respect of present proposal under consideration are submitted hereunder:- The mining lease was granted to Ambuja Cement Ltd. by H.P State Industry and Mininig Deptt. for mining of limestone and Shale for total area of hectare including forest land for a period of 20 years which is valid upto 27 th May, The user agency has applied to the Director of Industries for renewal of the Mining lease on and it is stated that the forest lease of hectare land will expire on Therefore, M/s Ambuja Cement Ltd. has applied to the State Forest Department, H.P for grant of permission/renewal of hectare of forest land for mining purpose for a period of 20 years which will be co-terminus with the approval from H.P State Industry and Mininig Deptt. The proposals have been considered by the H.P State Forest Department and on the basis of site inspection reports of DFO, Kunihar & CF, Bilaspur, the proposals for renewal of hectare of forest land for mining of limestone and shale by Ambuja Cement Ltd. have been recommended to this office for approval. It is mentioed that the User agency has carried out mining activities only over hectare of forest land in Kashlog area and remaining hectare of forest land in Kashlog area is left unbroken. Compliance status of different conditions in Forest Approval letters: Condition laid down in the diversion approval of Hac of forest land for mining purpose and present status Vide letter no.8-232/91-fc dated 13 Feb, 1992 Conditions 1. Legal status of forest land will remain unchanged. Present Status Status of Forest land is unchanged 2. The lease will be for 10 years. Before expiry of lease period, the project authorities had applied for renewal. The same was renewed by the Union Ministry of Environment & Forests vide letter No.8-7/2002-FC

4 dated 26 th February, Compensatory afforestration will be carried out over double the degraded forest land for which funds have already been provided by the user agency. 4. Phased reclamation plan will be carried out by the user agency. 5. Environmental safeguards recommended by the Expert Committee will be implemented by the user agency. 6. No forest land will be utilized for construction of factory, township etc. 7. Firewood will be supplied free of cost to the labourers working on the project site. Funds have already been deposited by PA with Forest Deptt. and compensatory afforestration has been carried out by Darla Forest Range of Kunihar Forest Division. It is promised by the Project authorities that the Reclamation will be done in a phased manner as per approved mining plan from IBM after exhaustion of minerals. The project authorities have been implementing all the necessary safeguards as recommended by the Committee. It is observed that the forest land is being used for mining purpose as stated in forest approval letter. It is stated by the project authorities that the same is being supplied. Condition wise compliance of forest approval letter no. 8-78/2002-FC dated 26 Feb., Legal status of Forest land will remain unchanged. 2. Lease period under Forest (conservation) Act, 1980 shall be up to Fencing protection and regeneration of the safety zone area will be done at the project cost. Beside this afforestation over one & half times of safety zone in degraded forest elsewhere will be done at the project cost. Status of forest land is unchanged. Before expiry of lease period the project authorities have applied for renewal. It is observed that all the safety precautions are being taken and proper fencing and protection measures in this regard have been carried out in consultation with Forest Department. The CF, Bilaspur had demanded Rs. 2,92,000/- + Rws. 50,000/- for compensatory afforestation and to

5 refurnish the forest rest house respectively. The PA has stated that they have deposited the money. However, the compliance of this condition is yet to be confirmed by the State Forest Department. 4. Demarcation of mining stipulated in the Ministry earlier letter no /91-FC dated , which have not been complied as yet or partially complied with. 5. All other condition stipulated in the Ministry's earlier letter no.8-232/91-fc dated , which have not been complied as yet or partially complied with. 6. Any other condition that the state Govt.or the Conservator of forest (Central), Regional Office Chandigarh may impose form time to in the interest of conservation, protection or development of forests. It is observed that the Fixations of cement concrete boundary pillars are in progress. Each pillar is marked with Serial number and the Photograph and distance from pillar to pillar is being maintained in a Register. The project authorities have confirmed that they are taking care of compliance of all the conditions. No additional condition has been imposed by the Regional Office of the Ministry of Environment & Forests so far. Taking into consideration the satisfactory compliance of environmental safeguards laid down in different environmental clearances and conditions laid down in different Forest approval letters mentioned above, it is recommended that the proposals submitted by H.P State Forest Department for renewal of forest approvals for hectare of forest land at Kashlog area for mining of limestone and shale by Ambuja Cement Ltd. may be considered for approval and further action may be initiated. Other details: 1. The diversion of ha vide letter No /1991-FC was renewed vide letter no. 8-7/2002-FC dated 26/2/2002. It is noted from the site inspection report at the time of renewal (p-10/c), the compensatory afforestation has been carried out over degraded forest land double in extent to the diverted forest land. Further, ha forest land permitted to be diverted vide Regional office letter dated also stipulates compensatory afforestation over degraded forest land double in extent to the diverted forest land.

6 2. The forest land under consideration was diverted in favour of M/s Himachal Ambuja Cement for mining of limestone vide letter no /1991-FC dated 12 th February 1992 for a period of 10 years. 3. Subsequently, the lease was renewed in favour of M/s Gujarat Ambuja Cement Ltd. till which was co-terminus with lease period vide letter no. 8-7/2002-FC dated 26 th February The approval for diversion granted by the Regional Office was in favour of Gujarat Ambuja Cement Ltd. 5. Now the user agency is known as Ambuja Cements Ltd. And has applied for renewal of lease in the same name. 6. The compliance to Afforestation over one and a half times the safety zone has not been confirmed. The Forest Department has demanded funds for this Afforestation, payment for which has not been confirmed. 7. Compensatory Afforestation has been carried out over double degraded forest land in compliance to the condition imposed in first diversion approval. 8. It has been noticed during site inspection that fixing of boundary pillars was under progress. 9. Trees in unbroken areas have not been felled. They will be felled when mining activities will start. 10. The user agency has assured that reclamation of the mined area will be done as per approved mining plan from IBM after exhaustion of minerals. 11. No information about oustees has been given in any of the previous approvals. 12. The sites pertaining to both the earlier proposals (i.e ha and ha) was inspected by the Regional office in response to the letter dated 5 th January 2012 in respect of the proposal received earlier in the Ministry. 13. The State Government has submitted certificate regarding compliance to Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 and can be seen at page 409/c which is in accordance with the guidelines issued in this regard on as applicable to the State of Himachal Pradesh. 14. The State Government has not uploaded on the website of the Ministry the documents as directed by the CIC. The Ministry has communicated that the proposals will be considered only when the relevant documents are uploaded on the website.