Mahan coal block not to be mined: Coal Ministry

The Ministry of Coal on Friday stated that, pursuant to the recommendation of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), the Mahan coal block in Madhya Pradesh will be kept off limits for mining.

The ministry gave this information while replying to a Right to Information query.

"Even as we celebrate this win for thousands of Indians, we are painfully aware that Mahan is just one of hundreds of coal mines planned in forested India. The MoEF's current criteria for determining forests closed to mining is clearly inadequate, only serving the interests of mining corporations, ignoring the needs of the communities and wildlife that depend on our forests," Greenpeace senior campaigner Priya Pillai said.

"The government must make public and open up for consultation the inviolate criteria, and then apply them equally across all blocks," she added.

This move comes as a major blow for Essar Energy, which had hoped to mine the coal block to supply coal for its nearby power plant.

The Mahan coal block has become the third coal block to be named off limits, following the Marki Mangli II block in Maharashtra and the Namchik-Namphuk block in Arunachal Pradesh.

A total of 74 coal blocks are part of the Schedule II and III of the coal ordinance.