The Ministry of Environment’s Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) has rejected eight proposals from the Andhra Pradesh government entailing the diversion of about 3,300 hectares of forest land for infrastructure projects in the State’s capital city of Amaravati.
According to the records of a meeting of the FAC held on November 15, the State government had sought permission to divert land in various forest divisions in Guntur district for projects including an ‘Adventure Eco Theme Park’ and a ‘Science City’.
‘Too little green cover’
The 6-member committee rejected all the eight “in-principle” proposals on the grounds that the “area under Reserve Forest (RF) was less than 5% of the entire area of Capital Region, which in the opinion of FAC is too less area as a green cover in any capital city.”