CEC Asks Deccan Cements, Telangana Forest Officials To Explain Suryapet Encroachment

Hyderabad: The Central Empowered Committee, constituted by the Supreme Court, has sought detailed replies from Deccan Cements Ltd and the Telangana forest department on the massive encroachment of reserved forest lands in Suryapet district.

The committee has called for a fresh inspection of the site and asked the related authorities to submit documentary evidence on the issue.

The directions were issued during a hearing held on February 25, on an application filed by Pasupuleti Suresh Babu, who alleged illegal encroachment of forest lands by the cement company in the Ulnama reserve forests in Telangana.

The CEC directed Deccan Cements to file a detailed reply with documents proving purchase of the land, KML files of the forest areas used by the company and recent photographs of the site.

It has also asked the principal chief conservator of forests and the divisional forest officer of Suryapet to clarify differences in the reported extent of encroachment,conduct a fresh physical inspection and make a detailed report.

The case had drawn public attention after a tense standoff at the residence of Konda Surekha, Telangana’s endowments minister, in Hyderabad on the night of October 15 last. The police arrived to arrest her officer on special duty N Sumanth in this connection.

He was subsequently removed from service after allegations that he threatened employees of a private cement company for bribe, warning them of action through the Telangana pollution control board if his demands were not met.

According to the petition, a forest flying squad inspection on June 8, 2020 found encroachment over about 32.3 hectares of forest land in compartments 26 and 27 of the reserve forest. Later, a survey by the divisional forest officer of Suryapet district estimated the encroachment at 8.02 hectares.

A show-cause notice issued in July 2020 stated that the encroachment took place between 2011 and 2016, which the company reportedly admitted to be so.

The petitioner told the committee that despite the notice, no action was taken to evict the encroachment or restore the forest land. Instead, officials recommended that the company apply for regularisation of the land under the forest (conservation) act, 1980 before the National Green Tribunal.

The company submitted a proposal in March, 2021 seeking diversion or regularisation of the land, which received Stage-I clearance in July 2021 and Stage-II clearance in March 2023 from the environment and forests ministry.

The application argued that such regularisation was not allowed because the encroachment took place after 1980. It said guidelines issued by the environment ministry in 1990 and the directions of the Supreme Court clearly stated that illegal forest encroachments “cannot be regularised later.”

The company, however, told the committee that the land used for a railway siding was originally purchased as non-forest land based on revenue records. Errors in village maps led to overlapping boundaries. The issue arose due to technical discrepancies rather than deliberate encroachment, it said.

This apart, the company also informed the committee that it had paid more than ₹6.55 crore towards Net Present Value, penal NPV, compensatory afforestation and wildlife mitigation measures, and deposited ₹1.2 crore for erecting boundary pillars around the forest