Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan Rejects Demand To Dilute Forest Clearance Proces
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First published in Sanctuary Asia,
Vol. 31
No. 8,
August 2011
The Chaturvedi committee had recommended drastic changes in the process, which included doing away with public hearing for the expansion of existing coal projects and seeking the concurrence of gram sabhas for mining. These proposals, if accepted, would enfeeble the Forest Rights Act and the Forest Conservation Act.
The tribal affairs minister Kishore Chandra Deo will be invited to the next meeting of the GoM The committee wanted mining to be banned only in "extremely dense forests". "We can't afford to lose these resources. If we decide to give it up, we will have to import and given the prices, our coal import bill could increase by $50 billion (about Rs 200,000 crore)," the report stated. Read the full report here.
Source: ET Bureau, Economic Times, New Delhi.
