The Union Environment Ministry has formally instructed the Odisha government to take decisive action against officials who permitted the construction of an Ekalavya Model Residential School (EMRS) in Keonjhar district. This construction proceeded without the essential forest clearance, sparking a major environmental concern.
The request for retrospective approval for this project was reviewed by the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) during its meeting on September 26.
During their review, the committee noted that the EMRS building now stands on 1.80 hectares of forest land. This area was earmarked for diversion, yet construction commenced without securing the necessary prior approval from the Environment Ministry, a clear breach of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980.
The committee highlighted that the school’s construction, a significant joint venture by the Tribal Affairs Ministry and the Odisha government, proceeded “without prior approval.” This oversight directly contravenes the provisions of the Forest Conservation Act.
The site designated for the project, located in Erendei village within Patna tehsil of Keonjhar district, encompasses 2.803 hectares of land officially classified as ‘Sabik’ (recorded) forest, alongside an additional 0.456 hectare of non-forest land.
The district administration has acknowledged its error, stating that construction began “in good faith,” relying on land records that, at the time, incorrectly identified the site as non-forest. However, subsequent checks of older documentation confirmed the land’s previous classification as “Jungle Kissam” (forest land).
According to the State’s official statement, the Tahasildar openly disclosed the issue to both the district welfare officer and the collector. Despite construction already being in progress, the incident was quickly reported to the Forest Department, and a proposal for forest land diversion was initiated to retroactively legalize this unintentional transgression.
The FAC further noted that subsequent investigations by the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Keonjhar and the Deputy Inspector General of Forests (DIGF) from IRO Bhubaneswar corroborated that the construction was undertaken in good faith, without any malicious intent, and based on the land classification records available at the time of development.
Despite the lack of malicious intent, the FAC adopted a stringent stance on the procedural breach. They instructed the State government to thoroughly investigate the situation and, if warranted, initiate disciplinary proceedings against the officials responsible for failing to prevent the use of forest land for non-forestry activities without explicit prior approval from the Central government.
Furthermore, the committee recommended a substantial penalty for the violation. This penalty is stipulated to be equivalent to the Net Present Value (NPV) of the forest land per hectare for each year of the infringement, potentially reaching up to five times the NPV, in addition to a 12% simple interest.
The environment ministry’s regional office in Bhubaneswar supported the diversion proposal, acknowledging its public utility nature. However, they advised that the diversion of 2.8 hectares of forest land should be conditional on imposing a five-fold penal NPV, penal compensatory afforestation (CA), and initiating action against the responsible officials, alongside other standard conditions.
The Ekalavya Model Residential School is intended to offer high-quality residential education to tribal children residing in Keonjhar, a district in Odisha with a significant tribal population.
This initiative aligns with the Central government’s broader strategy to establish Ekalavya schools in every block that has a minimum of 20,000 tribal residents and a Scheduled Tribe (ST) population exceeding 50 percent.