'Environment ministry to go easy on coal areas'

Notwithstanding Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh's assertion that there would not be any reclassification of 'go' and 'no-go' mining areas, his ministry conveyed to GoM yesterday that it was ready to free larger areas for coal blocks, said a source.

In a presentation before the Group of Ministers (GoM) yesterday, the Environment Ministry said that it was "prepared to consider revised 'go/ no-go' approach that will free 71% of areas in the nine coalfields (203 blocks)".

Originally, the Environment Ministry had proposed to free only 53% of the areas in the nine coalfields.

"This is a huge compromise, keeping in view the Prime Minister's instructions," said the ministry's presentation.

After the GoM met to resolve the inter-ministerial dispute yesterday, Ramesh had said that there was no question of reviewing the classification of 'go' and 'no-go' areas for coal mining.

Meanwhile, all the mining proposals in the 'no go' areas will be referred to the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) in the Environment Ministry "and if possible, the compromise would be arrived at".

Moreover, where the compromise is not possible at the FAC level, the issue would be brought to the Cabinet but with the recommendations for rejections, the presentation said.

Responding to criticism that stringent environment norms were affecting the coal production, it said that Coal India Ltd has two lakh hectres of land (including 55,000 hectare of forest area) in its possession.

"The GoM should ask why production targets could not be met from this area."

The Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, met for the second time yesterday to sort out inter-ministerial differences over stringent environment norms, which disallow mining in 203 coal blocks.

The next meeting is likely in two-three weeks.

'No-Go' areas are classified as the areas where mining is not allowed. The classification had disallowed mining in coal blocks, having a potential of 660 million tonne of production a year.

The norms have also affected infrastructure projects in the power and steel sectors.

According to the Coal Ministry estimates, the output from those 203 blocks can generate around 1.3 lakh Mw of power per annum.