Earlier this month, Mr Ramesh, during a visit to Bengaluru, had said one of his top priorities is getting a `No go area' demarcated along the ecologicaly sensitive Western Ghats, so that the flora and fauna there are not affected by development projects.
However, at the central level, events are not taking the course Mr Ramesh would have liked them to. A Group of Ministers (GoM), comprising Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, home minister P. Chidambaram and Planning Commission chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, are looking into the various projects for which environmental clearances were sought and were turned down by the ministry of environment and forests(MOEF).
The GOM obviously, has different priorities as the projected economic growth rate for the 12th five-year plan period is 9-9.5%.
On Friday, at a Regional Consultation of the Planning Commission with southern states, Mr Ahluwalia said the GOM was looking into the issue of environmental clearance for coal supply to power projects. Sources said the conflict was not limited to coal supply with the GOM stepping up pressure to get many projects, which were turned down by the MoEF, approved. Read the full report here.
Source: by Vinay Madhav, Deccan Chronicle, Bengaluru.
