Greenpeace criticises govt's decision to allocate coal blocks

The government's decision to kickstart the process of coal blocks allocation will cause destruction of dense forest areas having tribal villages, endangered species and water bodies, a green NGO claimed today.
14 coal mines were yesterday allocated to central and state PSUs, including four to NTPC, in the biggest allocations of coal blocks since the Coalgate scam.
According to Greenpeace, these 14 coal blocks will destroy 4,200 hectares of forest, including 2,200 hectares of dense forest.
"Besides affecting 17 villages, this will have an adverse impact on elephants, tigers and leopards in nine blocks," the NGO said in a release.

These auctions come at a time when the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) is still in the process of making the criteria for the "inviolate" forests areas to demarcate certain forests areas to be kept out of bound from coal mining.
"These allocations are being made before any informed decision is taken on whether it is acceptable for a coal mine to come up at the cost of environment and livelihood of villagers dependent on the forests," Forest Campaigner, Greenpeace, Nandikesh Sivalingam said.

According to the NGO's analysis, based on data acquired from the Environment Ministry, coal available within forest areas is only 18,448.36 million tonnes, while more than double (955,218.83 million tonnes) can be mined outside these areas.

"Yet, we see a mindless rush for coal block allocations in areas with thick forests, rather than in other areas that are free of dense forests and wildlife," the NGO said.
The government has said that the mines are allocated on the recommendation of the inter-ministerial committee after due deliberations at every stage with applicant state government, host states where the coal blocks are located and the concerned administrative ministry.