Staff Reporter
Guwahati: Finally, the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has decided to recommend the proposal for oil and gas exploration drilling over an area of 4.4998 hectares (ha) in the Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) of Hollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, in the Jorhat District of Assam. However, the Board has imposed certain conditions on the user agency and made it mandatory for the agency to submit the entire plan of exploration drilling operations before the commencement of the drilling.
This was revealed by Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh in response to an unstarred question by MPs Sasikanth Senthil and Pradyut Bordoloi in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
The Union Minister stated that the Standing Committee of the NBWL, in its 81st meeting held on December 21, 2024, decided to recommend the proposal for oil and gas exploration drilling over an
area of 4.4998 Ha in the Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) of Hollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary. The proposal has been recommended with the following conditions: (i) The user agency shall submit the entire plan of exploration drilling operations, including the Material Safety Data Sheet, before commencement of the drilling operation to the controller Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) & Forest Department; (ii) The SPCB & Forest Department shall ensure direct control and continuous vigilance over the operations and the DGH to overlook all the controls & operations. (iii) The user agency shall install CCTV DSS (Digital Video Surveillance System) to enable real-time monitoring of all the operations by all the controllers (DGH/SPCB/Forest Dept.); (iv) Any violations of PCB norms shall result in immediate suspension of the operation and termination of the project, and necessary legal actions will be taken against the project proponent; (v) No oil/gas extraction shall be allowed from inside the ESZ area in case any reserves are discovered at the site; (vi) The user agency shall ensure minimal tree felling. No adverse impact shall be caused to the wild animals and their habitat; (vii) The user agency shall take adequate measures against all kinds of pollution likely to be caused by implementation of the project including disasters like oil & gas leakage or explosion of the well; (viii) An amount equivalent to the cost of implementing the measures to mitigate impact of the activities proposed in the project in the ESZ shall be deposited by the user agency to be utilized by the Chief Wild Life Warden in consonance with the guidelines issued by the Ministry; (ix) An annual compliance certificate on the stipulated conditions shall be submitted by the user agency to the State Chief Wild Life Warden and an annual compliance certificate shall be submitted by the State Chief Wild Life Warden to the government.
In response to a question on public consultations, the minister further stated that all projects in respect of offshore and onshore oil and gas exploration have been categorized as ‘B2’ projects under the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006, thereby exempting them from the requirement of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report and public consultation.
It was further stated that, based on the decision taken by the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wild Life in its 80th meeting held on October 9, 2024, a site inspection committee was constituted by the Ministry. This committee undertook a site inspection and noted that the ESZ around the Hollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary notified by the Ministry in September 2019 also includes the Dissoi Valley Reserved Forest. As per the ESZ notification, certain activities have been categorized as prohibited, regulated, and promoted. The purpose of the categorization of activities as prohibited and regulated in the ESZ, which includes Dissoi Reserved Forest, is to mitigate impacts on the sanctuary.
Hollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, more popularly known as Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, covers an area of 20.98 square kilometres and is approximately 19 km from Jorhat’s town centre and 5 km from Mariani.
Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary is the most diverse hotspot for primates in India. Out of fifteen species of primates in India, seven species are found in Gibbon Sanctuary: Hoolock gibbon, Slow Loris, Rhesus macaque, Assamese macaque, Stump-tailed macaque, Pigtailed macaque, Capped langur,
Gibbon Sanctuary provides habitat to the hoolock gibbons. The upper canopy of the forest is dominated by the Hollong tree while the Nahar tree dominates the lower canopy. The lower region of the park is bestowed with evergreen shrubs and herbs plants.
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