Question raised in Rajya Sabha on Closure of Coal Based Power Plants, 01/08/2016. State wise list of coal based power plants shut down in the country during the recent past (from April to June, 2016) along with the reasons thereof is Annexed. Coal based Thermal Power Plants are set up keeping in view the availability of land, water, fuel etc.

Question raised in Rajya Sabha on Areas covered by dense forests, 01/08/2016. Forest cover of the country is assessed biennially and published as India State of Forest Report (ISFR) by Forest Survey of India, Dehradun, an organization under Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. As per India State of Forest Report-2015, the forest cover of the country is 7, 01,673 square kilometers. The forest cover is divided into three classes namely Very Dense Forest (VDF), Moderately Dense Forest (MDF) and Open Forest (OF).

Question raised in Lok Sabha on Norms for Packaged and Fast Food, 29/07/2016. Some cases of violation of food safety norms have come to the notice of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Although, no separate data for foreign and Indian companies is maintained centrally by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), as per the information made available by State/UT Governments, the details of samples of food items collected, tested, found not conforming and action taken during the years 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 are at Annexure-I, II and III respectively.

Question raised in Lok Sabha on Food Adulteration, 29/07/2016. Some cases of adulteration in food items have come to the notice of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). As per the information made available by State/UT Governments to FSSAI, the state-wise details of samples of food articles collected, tested, found not conforming to the prescribed standards and action taken during last three years, are at Annexure-I, II & III.

Question raised in Rajya Sabha on Contingency plans for farmers to tackle with natural calamities, 29/07/2016. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has prepared District Agricultural Contingency Plans (DACP) to tackle any eventuality in agriculture sector including horticulture, livestock, poultry, and fisheries. These plans provide suitable technological interventions to minimize the losses due to weather aberrations viz. droughts, floods, cyclones, hailstorms, heat and cold waves etc. So far, contingency plans for 614 districts of the country have been prepared.

Question raised in Rajya Sabha on Compensation for drought affected farmers, 29/07/2016. The details regarding assistance approved from NDRF during the Financial Year 2015-16 for drought affected States on the basis of the Memoranda received is at Annexure. The State Governments are to take utmost care and ensure that all individual beneficiary-oriented assistance from SDRF/NDRF is necessarily/mandatorily disbursed through the bank account of the beneficiary.

Question raised in Lok Sabha on Water Treatment, 28/07/2016. As reported by the States in the online Integrated Management Information System of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, there exist 2,230 water quality testing laboratories at the State, District, Sub-Divisional, Block levels and also certain mobile water testing laboratories. State/UT-wise details of water quality testing laboratories including Chhattisgarh State is at Annexure.

Question raised in Lok Sabha on Water Projects, 28/07/2016. Water Resources Project are planned, funded, executed and maintained by the State Governments themselves as per their own resources and priority.

Question raised in Lok Sabha on Restoration of Water Bodies, 28/07/2016. Water Resources Projects are planned, funded, executed and maintained by the State Governments themselves as per their own resources and priority.

Question raised in Lok Sabha on New Power Plants, 28/07/2016. As per Section 7 of the Electricity Act 2003, any generating company may establish, operate and maintain a generating station without obtaining a license/permission under this Act, if it complies with the technical standards relating to connectivity with the grid. Accordingly, sanction of the Government is not required for setting up of thermal power projects.