The Ministry of Mines has requested the Forest Advisory Committee to exempt digging exploratory boreholes from Net Present Value (NPV).
Important value additions
Net Present Value
It is a mandatory one-time payment that a user has to make for diverting forestland for non-forest use, under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
This is calculated on the basis of the services and ecological value of the forests.
It depends on the location and nature of the forest and the type of industrial enterprise that will replace a particular parcel of forest.
These payments go to the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) and are used for afforestation and reforestation.
Decided by: The Forest Advisory Committee.
The Committee is constituted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and decides on whether forests can be diverted for projects and the NPV to be charged.
It is a statutory body constituted by the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980.
Exemptions
Some projects have been provided exemption from paying NPV like construction of Schools, Hospitals, village tanks, laying down of optical fibre etc.
Projects like underground mining and wind energy plants have been given a 50% exemption from NPV.
Do you know?
In the N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India case, 2008, the Supreme Court mandated the payment of NPV.
The Kanchan Gupta Committee developed the concept of NPV after this case.
Exploratory Boreholes: It is drilled for the purpose of identifying the characteristics, location, quantity and quality of a resource (coal, metal or petroleum). It is a part of prospecting a site for future use for mining and extraction activities.
