Your no-go areas for coal mining hurts,so review: PMO to Jairam

Prime Ministers Office is unhappy with Environment Minister Jairam Rameshs definition of 'no go' areas for coal mining.

The Prime Ministers Office is unhappy with Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Rameshs definition of no go areas for coal mining and has warned that these areas could turn out to be breeding grounds for Naxalism. The PMO has also pointed out that the Ministry approach is likely to deprive the Central and state exchequers of several thousand crores.

At a May 21 meeting,presided over by T K A Nair,Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister,officials of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) were told that in nine coalfields,where superimposition of coal-bearing areas and forest areas had been done,it has emerged that 48 per cent of the area fell in no go category which is not agreeable.

The implication of this categorization is that about 619 million tonnes per annum of coal production capacity (about 412 MTPA from Coal India Ltds areas and 207 MTPA from captive blocks) is getting affected, the PMO pointed out.

What particularly upset the PMO was the MoEFs definition of unbroken forest for the Hasdeo-Arand coalfields in Chhattisgarh and its categorisation as A area,implying that no coal mining could take place there.

Unbroken forest is not a justified word for Hasdeo-Arand coalfields as these areas are surrounded by highways,irrigation projects and other economic activities. There is need to review the approach to coal blocks in this coalfield as this includes more than 5 billion tonnes of coal reserves and the potential of 18 allocated blocks are estimated to be 120 MTPA,which could support thermal power generation capacity of 20,000 MW, the MoEF was told.

Pointing out no go area may lead to increase in Naxalism,the PMO suggested that let the threshold of Weighted Forest Cover (WFC) be greater than 30 per cent and Gross Forest Cover (GFC) be greater than 50 per cent to treat the area as no-go area instead of 10 and 25 per cent respectively as suggested presently.

If the WFC and GFC are enhanced from 10 to 30 per cent and 25 to 50 per cent,the number of coal blocks that can go to Category B or go category would be 473 as against 383 projected earlier. Similarly,the blocks that fall in Category A or no go would be 132 as against 222 projected earlier, the PMO said.