Civil society groups (mines, minerals & People, Greenpeace, Wildlife Protection Society of India and Lawyers Initiative for Forests and Environment) today flayed the Group of Ministers on coal mining and other development projects for its lopsided constitution, lack of public consultation and suspicious mandate, at a press conference in Delhi.
Calling for greater transparency and consultation around the GoM’s deliberations, Ashish Fernandes of Greenpeace India said, “It is a mockery of democracy that a handful of ministers are deciding the fate of over 600,000 hectares (6,000 sq.km) of India’s forests, behind closed doors and without any public consultation. Coal mining has huge environmental and social impacts and any decision on sacrificing forest areas for coal has to address these issues.”
R. Sreedhar of mines, minerals & People was scathing in his indictment of coal mining across the country, “There is not a single example of a coal mine in this country that has not had devastating impacts on livelihood and the environment. Angul in Orissa and Bokaro in Jharkhand are just two of many examples. This government takes hypocrisy to a new level – it claims to care about protecting the rights of forest dwellers, and yet has no hesitation in destroying the forests that they depend on!”
Belinda Wright, Executive Director of the Wildlife Protection Society India expressed concern over the impacts of mining on wildlife corridors, particularly for far-ranging species such as the elephant and tiger. “I have seen first-hand what mining can do to wildlife corridors around the Tadoba and Panna Tiger Reserves. Many of the areas being deliberated on by the GoM are important wildlife habitats, but biodiversity considerations are being ignored. In Orissa alone we are talking about over 400 elephants, and in Maharashtra, dozens of tigers, if not more, in the forest areas under discussion!” (1)
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, as chair for the GoM, has offered to meet NGOs on this issue, but is yet to confirm a date and time, even as the GoM continues its deliberations. There is clearly hard bargaining going on behind the scenes, with different figures surfacing as far as the extent of No Go zones is concerned. From an initial high of 320,684 ha (out of 652,572 ha.) the MoEF has now said that only 268,750 ha should be considered No Go. (2) The parameters of Gross Forest Cover used to arrive at the classification also appear to have been shifted, from 25% to 30%, though the PMO had wanted this raised as high as 50%.
“There is a web of secrecy surrounding the machinations of the GoM. It’s very mandate is highly suspicious to say the least, and appears to be the first step to weaken India’s environmental safeguards,” said Ritwick Dutta, environmental lawyer from Lawyers initiative for Forests and Environment. “As recent protests from impacted communities have shown, what India needs is for environmental laws to be strengthened and implemented properly, not for them to be weakened.” Dutta was referring to the GoM’s mandate to “suggest changes in existing statutes, rules, regulations, guidelines or executive instructions.”(3)
Greenpeace and other NGOs are calling for the Group of Ministers to announce a process of public consultation to seek the opinions of affected communities, civil society, wildlife and biodiversity experts, alternative energy experts and hydrologists before any decision is made on the issue.
For more information:
- 1 Preethi Herman, Campaigner, Greenpeace India +91 99014 88482 preethi.herman@greenpeace.org
- Shachi Chaturvedi, Media Officer, Greenpeace India +91 98187 50007 shachi.chaturvedi@greenpeace.org
- Ashish Fernandes, Campaigner, Greenpeace India, +91 99801 99380 ashish.fernandes@greenpeace.org
