No-Go issue: Jairam, Jaiswal to sort out differences

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh will meet Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal on Thursday — for the second time in three days — to iron out inter-ministerial differences over the controversial No-Go issue.

The meetings between the two ministers, who have so far been at loggerheads in the environment-versus-development debate, have triggered the speculation that the environment ministry would soften its stance.

The critical nature of the issue had forced PM Manmohan Singh recently to have separate meetings with the two ministers at his residence recommending a softening of stands. The PM’s intervention was necessary as the matter has become more complex with the Planning Commission’s proposal to allocate alternative blocks to companies with blocks held in No-Go areas.

The meetings are being held barely a week before a recently-constituted Group of Ministers (GoM) brainstorms to find an amicable solution to the problem. “The two ministers will meet on Thursday. The possibility of reviewing the environment ministry’s stiff stance and free at least some coal blocks could be discussed,” said a senior official from the coal ministry. Thursday’s meeting follows a one-on-one on Tuesday where the two ministers failed to make common ground.

The environment ministry had last year classified the country’s heavily forested regions into Go and No-Go regions. A ban was imposed on mining in No-Go zones through an indicative categorisation on environmental grounds. The move had sparked-off an intense inter-ministerial row pulling into its ambit three infrastructure ministries of coal, power and steel on one side and Ramesh on the other.

The importance of the issue can be gauged by the fact that investments of over Rs 40,000 crore in coal blocks in nine major coalfields with reserves of 600 million tonnes linked to power projects of over 1,30,000 Mw capacity have been stuck in No-Go areas.

The coal ministry official said Jaiswal has been hopeful of freeing blocks with at least 15 million tonnes of reserves in Talcher and IB Valley coalfields through the ongoing talks with the environment minister.

“The talks are currently focused on the physical aspects like identifying coalfields that can be reviewed before the GoM decides on the policy aspect of the matter,” he said.

Jairam had asked for additional data on coal reserves impacted by the No-Go policy in Tuesday’s meeting, according to another coal ministry official.