He was speaking at a national workshop on “Reforms in Environmental Regulation" on Tuesday where he underlined the need to ensure developmental activities while protecting ecological concerns. “We would soon extend the exercise of identifying ‘go' and ‘no go' areas in iron ore sector too which is going to face massive extraction," he added.
Ramesh pointed that a joint study by the Environment and Coal ministries has found that as much as 35 per cent of coal mining areas across the country are located in ‘no go' zones, where environmental clearances cannot be given. A ‘no go' zone is a densely forested area where mining will not be allowed at any cost. “Thirty-five per cent of coal mining areas fall in “no go areas" where mining will not be allowed. There are nine major blocks of coal mines in these areas surrounded by dense forests in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh," he said. But even in the ‘go' areas, projects will have to go through the due environmental and forest clearance process before being approved. Read the full article here.
