Mizoram: Construction of NIT campus at Lengpui to resume after 6-year halt
The Mizoram government has deposited a penalty of ₹1.4 crore to the appropriate office of the union forest ministry, and construction will resume soon, the statement added.
The permanent NIT campus project was stalled in 2017 after the Centre for Environment Protection filed a complaint with the National Green Tribunal (NGT), citing unauthorised use of the Tlawng Riverine Reserve Forest without mandatory clearance under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
NIT Mizoram, which opened in 2010, currently functions from a temporary campus in Aizawl, which includes an administrative block and four academic blocks at Chaltlang, three hostels at Tanhril, and one hostel at Durtlang. The institute offers BTech, MTech, and PhD degrees.
In 2017, the Centre for Environment Protection filed a complaint with a special bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), alleging encroachment on the Tlawng Riverine Reserve Forest without mandatory forest clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Also Read: Mizoram: Leading the way in education
The Mizoram government later submitted a proposal for forest clearance under Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 for the diversion of 63.44 hectares of land for the construction of the NIT campus in October 2021.
The proposal was placed before the Forest Advisory Committee in a meeting on June 13, 2022, which deferred the proposal and sought additional details from the state government.
Also Read:Mizoram declared fully literate state under ULLAS initiative
'The state government applied for forest diversion clearance in 2021. By 2023, the government had agreed to deposit ₹20 crore as part of the forest compensation. However, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) later revised the amount to ₹1.4 crore after the intervention of Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma, which has now been deposited, clearing the way for construction to resume,' the official statement said.
An amount of ₹669.75 crore was sanctioned for the establishment of the permanent NIT Mizoram campus. The Mizoram government is responsible for providing the land for the campus free of cost and free from encumbrances.
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