ForestMin now waves red flag at SAIL’s iron ore mines

After prescribing the mining limits for the coal sector,environment ministry has now raised concerns over the iron ore mines.

After prescribing the mining limits for the coal sector and inviting the intervention of the Prime Ministers Office,the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has now raised concerns over the iron ore mines of state-run behemoth Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).

In a move that took the maharatna company by surprise,the MoEF recently refused to extend the forest clearance (FC) for its Gua mines unless the issue of granting the clearance for its Chiria mines was resolved. It argued that an elephant corridor existed within it and the matter needed to be resolved. The forest clearance for Gua,considered to be the lifeline of SAILs Bokaro plant,was to be decided upon by MoEF as its clearance was slated to expire on June 3. The MoEF top brass informed the steel ministry that extending the clearance for it should be considered only after the resolution of the forest clearance for the Chiria mines. Unaware of such a possibility,the steel ministry officials pleaded with their MoEF counterparts that both the issues were separate and should not be clubbed together. Gauging the sensitivity of the situation,Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh met MoEF minister Jairam Ramesh and explained to him the implications of the such a move.

I told Ramesh that both Gua and Chiria are imperative for Steel Authority of India Limiteds (SAIL) long-term raw material needs, Singh told The Indian Express. Following the Rs 80,000 crore expansion and modernisation programme,SAILs iron ore needs would shoot up to around 42 million tonnes per annum to fire its furnaces.

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Sources in the MoEF argue that the ministrys views on Chiria were guided by the fact that Chiria mines are part of the Saranda forests bordering Jharkhand and Orissa,which have an old elephant corridor. After Singh-Ramesh meeting,Steel Secretary Atul Chaturvedi and new SAIL Chairman C S Verma too met the MoEF brass in the course of the latest round of the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) a few days ago and pointed out that any decision on Gua should not be made contingent on the resolution of Chiria as it was yet to come up before the FAC. They had a concern on wildlife in the area and the elephant corridor which criss-crossed through the area. We said Gua was a stand-alone issue and should not be appended to the FC on Chiria,which is yet to come up before the FAC. Following our meetings with Ramesh and the FCA,the MoEF promptly gave a clearance to the Gua mines. However,we are trying to expedite the FC for Chiria as well, Chaturvedi told this newspaper.

Chiria and Gua together have a reserve of about 2 billion tonnes of quality iron ore.

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