CoalMin,MoEF identify ‘Go’ area blocks

But the modification of boundaries of these blocks needed to be done on larger scale maps as compared to the maps on which the study on forestry cover has been completed. “The exercise on boundary modifications will thus take some more time,” he said. In a recent meeting chaired by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee,coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal complained that without taking his ministry into confidence the MoEF had unilaterally fixed the criteria for the Weighted Forest Cover and Gross Forest Cover. He said that had led to to large coal bearing forest area being classified as “No Go” areas,which would adversely impact coal production.

“Decisions with such far-reaching implications are usually taken by setting up Inter-Ministerial Committees (IMCs) where views of all stakeholders are properly obtained and deliberated on,and thereafter recommendations are put up for the approval of the Group of Ministers (GoM) or the union cabinet,” Jaiswal told Mukherjee. He even argued that following the government’s decision to offload 10 per cent stake in CIL ,the company’s Book Lead Running Managers and potential investors had expressed the apprehension that the company’s valuation could be seriously affected.

Even the PMO,in a meeting with the top brass of the coal ministry and the MoEF,expressed unhappiness that the categorisation of A and B areas would result in 619 million tonnes of coal per annum remaining out of bounds for Coal India Limited. Pointing out that the “No Go” approach could lead to an increase in Naxalism,the PMO suggested that the threshold of Weighted Forest Cover could be greater than 30 per cent and Gross Forest Cover could be greater than 50 per cent to treat the area as “No Go” instead of 10 and 25 per cent as suggested at present.