In response to the Coal Ministry's accusations that he was stalling mining projects, the Environment Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, said on Friday only two of the 291 proposals of Coal India seeking approvals were pending with his Ministry.
Pointing out that while 174 proposals have been approved, Mr Ramesh said a majority of the remaining 117 proposals were held up either due to delay in submission of documents such as compliance report as sought by the Environment Ministry or incomplete information by the user agencies or the State governments.
“In the absence of these documents…the Environment Ministry cannot take decisions on the diversion of forest lands. A substantial time is therefore lost in procuring these documents from the user agencies,” Mr Ramesh said replying to the recent draft note by the Coal Minister, Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal, on making available more coal bearing areas for enhancing coal output.
Further, Mr Ramesh said, “accepting the demand of Coal Ministry to divert prime unfragmented forest for coal mining will open the floodgate for similar demands from other ministries.”
The Coal Ministry has said that MoEF's refusal to grant permission in the ‘No Go' areas was impacting the country's coal output, thereby resulting in a widening demand-supply gap. ‘No Go' areas are those forest areas with over 30 per cent of the gross forest, which account for some 32 per cent of the 582 coal blocks where mining would not be allowed.