New Delhi:
The government's top auditor has slammed the Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh governments for violating environmental rules to favour big corporates like JP associates and Reliance Power Limited.
A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report tabled in Parliament today said the environment ministry had not followed rules to ensure compliance with green norms in the Sasan project, which was transferred to Anil Ambani's Reliance Power Limited in 2007.
According to the report, the Madhya Pradesh government first issued a certificate saying non-forest land was not available, and based on it, the environment ministry exempted the Sasan project owners from providing non-forest land as compensation.
It also listed similar favours granted in Uttar Pradesh, where the status of 1,083 hectares of forest land had been changed arbitrarily and handed over to JP Associates for a cement plant in the Sonbhadra district. JP saved Rs 133 crore, said the auditor, by not having to give non-forest land to compensate for the forest land.
Seven more states, Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Punjab and Rajasthan have been named for not planting trees as compensation for acquiring forest land.