Ramesh softens stand, 'no-go' projects to get green nod

Has Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who till recently was known for his green ‘overdrive’, toned down? Conditional clearance to several high-profile projects, including Posco and SAIL, is a pointer to how his ministry has softened its stand.

Ahead of a meeting of the group of ministers (GoM) tomorrow, on the ‘no-go’ issue related to coal projects, 16 coal projects, that have been stuck for a year now, are set to get the environment ministry’s go-ahead.

The ministry has agreed to relax the comprehensive environment pollution index (CEPI) moratorium allowing 16 projects of Coal India — the country’s monopoly coal producer — in seven coalfields to take off. These projects had been stranded after the ministry imposed a temporary moratorium on development projects in 43 clusters labelled “critically polluted”.

Seven coalfields – Chandrapur, Korba, Dhanbad, Talcher, Singrauli, Asansol and IB Valley – fall under the CEPI moratorium. Five of the 43 clusters were already taken off the list earlier, while it lifted moratorium from another eight sites today.

Earlier this year Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had asked Ramesh, coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and power minister Sushilkumar Shinde to soften their stand to resolve the environment versus development dispute.

Interestingly, data shows that from August 2009 to July 2010 (under Jairam Ramesh), 501 projects of the 714 were approved and only six was rejected. The remaining projects are under consideration.

Before the cabinet reshuffle on January 20 Ramesh cleared high profile projects, including the $12 billion South Korean Posco venture in Orissa. Also, overturning the recommendations of the statutory Forest advisory Committee (FAC), he gave go-ahead to Steel Authority of India (SAIL) for diversion of 595 hectares of forest land for mining in Chiria, Jharkhand.

In addition, MoEF gave a conditional go-ahead to Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) for its six mtpa (million tonnes per annum) integrated steel plant and 1,000 Mw captive power plant in Orissa, which was stalled for months. The ministry had issued a showcause notice to the company in November 2010, asking reasons for not revoking earlier clearances.

On January 17, the Lavasa hill-city project of Ajit Gulabchand near Pune got conditional approval. The following day the ministry, in its order, had said it was prepared to consider the project subject to imposition of penalties, creation of an environmental restoration fund, formulation of a comprehensive environmental impact assessment study and the management plan.

Activists claim Ramesh never took any strong stand. “The opposition was symbolic,” one of the activists said.

Most of the projects that got cleared had riders attached to it which the companies involved had to abide by.