No-Go issue: Pranab-led group of ministers to meet today

With no solution emerging out of the earlier deliberations, the group of ministers (GoM), set up by the government to sort out issues related to coal mining in No-Go areas, as classified by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), is meeting tomorrow.

This is the second meeting of the GoM after last month’s meeting, where no conclusive decision could be arrived at.

Four major issues, including the coal ministry’s demand for making available more coal bearing areas for enhancing production, top the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting.

The 12-member GoM, headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, will also address the issues raised by the power ministry regarding adverse impact on power sector due to increasing shortage in domestic coal supply.

It will also consider the draft prepared by the Planning Commission on the “assessment of coal requirement” in the next 10 years and the concerns of private stakeholders affected by the Go-No-Go policy.

At the last meeting, environment minister Jairam Ramesh had assured the coal ministry that he will be “positive” towards infrastructure projects. 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. Coal blocks with reserves of 600 million tonnes, linked to power projects of over 130,000 megawatt capacity, have been stuck in No-Go areas.