Facing intense criticism for his stiff pro-environment stand which has jeopardised the growth of major infrastructure projects, Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh will make a case for his ministry’s controversial ‘no-go’ policy in the next meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on coal.
The 12-member GoM met for the first time on Thursday where ministers in charge of infrastructure ministries — including Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Steel Minister B P Verma and Road Transport Minister C P Joshi — made their concerns known to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who heads the ministerial Panel. The GoM is likely to have its second meeting in the second week of March.
“The coal ministry had said that the policy of ‘go’ and ‘no go’ should be abolished and that it should be replaced by the previous policy. I will comment on this issue when I give my presentation in the next 3-4 weeks. No decision has been taken today,” Ramesh said after today’s meeting.
The Union environment ministry had last year announced the ‘no-go’ policy which, while being only indicative in nature, had debarred mining in 203 coal blocks in heavily forested areas.
Ramesh also said that he promised the finance minister in today’s meeting that he would adopt a positive attitude over the issues. “The FM said during the meeting that the purpose of the GoM is not to deprive environment ministry of its executive function. Other ministers put their points and asked for my suggestion. I have assured the FM that the environment ministry will adopt a positive attitude,” he said, adding: “It is not as if we want to stop projects. But we need to stop the decline in forest area in our country.”
While Ramesh asserted that no coal blocks were discussed during today’s meeting, Jaiswal said that freeing coal blocks was one of the issues the GoM deliberated upon today. Jaiswal also indicated that he expects 90 per cent of the coal ministry’s blocks stuck in ‘no-go’ areas to be freed after the discussions of the GoM are over.
“The coal ministry put forward the same points in today’s meeting which it had put to the cabinet. We expect 90 per cent of the problem to be solved after the GoM deliberations. All the issues were discussed in the meeting, including ‘no-go’ areas and coal blocks and the need for imported coal,” Jaiswal said after the meeting.
Steel Secretary P K Mishra, who also attended today’s meeting informed that seven blocks linked to steel projects of 22 companies were discussed by the GoM. A final decision, however, is likely to come only in the second meeting.
