The Union environment and forests ministry (MoEF) will demarcate the no-go areas for mining within a month. However, this time around, they have been rechristened as "inviolate areas".
The exercise will be carried out by a panel chaired by environment and forest secretary T Chatterjee.
The original no-go demarcation was scrapped since the coal ministry and industry had complained about it. Earlier, it was decided by Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, to instead demarcate "inviolate areas", where mining would not be permissible.
In the GoM meeting held on Thursday, it was decided that the process of demarcating the inviolate zone would be conducted within a month. The Chatterjee-led panel has been tasked to chalk out fresh criteria for the demarcation process that would decide how liberal the new regime is.
GoM members also pushed hard for a revaluation of the environment ministry's decision not to open Mahan and Chhatrasal captive coal blocks in Madhya Pradesh. The ministry has been asked to review its decision for which another panel will be sent to the sites.
Mahan had been allocated to the Aditya Birla Group and Essar in a joint venture, and the firm has made substantial investments in their power plants based on separate environment clearances. While the environmental clearance did put conditions about securing forest clearance, the GoM members noted that no concern had been raised for long, besides companies had pumped funds into the projects.
Chhatrasal block has been allocated to the Reliance Ultra Mega Power Project but the environment ministry's statutory Forest Advisory Committee had recommended against clearing the venture as it impinges upon the Rihand reservoir apart from other concerns.
The GoM would consider the two blocks' fate once the panel submits its report in 10 days.
The GoM also discussed if power projects could be given clearance without assessing the environmental and forest implications of the linked coal blocks. It was suggested that a decision could be taken based on a pool of coal supply being assured in advance as long as the quality of the mineral needed for the particular power project was available in the pool.
The exercise will be carried out by a panel chaired by environment and forest secretary T Chatterjee.
The original no-go demarcation was scrapped since the coal ministry and industry had complained about it. Earlier, it was decided by Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, to instead demarcate "inviolate areas", where mining would not be permissible.
In the GoM meeting held on Thursday, it was decided that the process of demarcating the inviolate zone would be conducted within a month. The Chatterjee-led panel has been tasked to chalk out fresh criteria for the demarcation process that would decide how liberal the new regime is.
GoM members also pushed hard for a revaluation of the environment ministry's decision not to open Mahan and Chhatrasal captive coal blocks in Madhya Pradesh. The ministry has been asked to review its decision for which another panel will be sent to the sites.
Mahan had been allocated to the Aditya Birla Group and Essar in a joint venture, and the firm has made substantial investments in their power plants based on separate environment clearances. While the environmental clearance did put conditions about securing forest clearance, the GoM members noted that no concern had been raised for long, besides companies had pumped funds into the projects.
Chhatrasal block has been allocated to the Reliance Ultra Mega Power Project but the environment ministry's statutory Forest Advisory Committee had recommended against clearing the venture as it impinges upon the Rihand reservoir apart from other concerns.
The GoM would consider the two blocks' fate once the panel submits its report in 10 days.
The GoM also discussed if power projects could be given clearance without assessing the environmental and forest implications of the linked coal blocks. It was suggested that a decision could be taken based on a pool of coal supply being assured in advance as long as the quality of the mineral needed for the particular power project was available in the pool.
No comments:
Post a Comment