Natarajan has taken the safer option of referring the question of releasing coal blocks from these strictly no-go areas to the Cabinet. Her predecessor Jairam Ramesh too had decided to refer the matter to the Cabinet just before his exit, even as he relented in the case of a few other blocks which had obtained stage-1 forest clearance.
Natarajan had earlier said that there should be single-window clearance for all projects as development and environment would need to go hand in hand. She has now come around to the view that in the case of projects which Ramesh did not recommend for clearance, the Cabinet would take the final call, not the ministry.
Projects by Adani, Essar, Prakash Industries, Hindustan Zinc, Ultratech and the Chhattisgarh ultra mega power project (UMPP) will be impacted by the ministry's decision. If Cabinet approval does not come though, these companies will have to to rework their project plans or relocate.
According to sources, the ministry has also decided against further dilution of the ‘go' and ‘no-go' segregation of coal blocks and to seek a group of ministers' (GoM) endorsement for a complete ban on mining in thickly forested areas in and around Hasdeo Arand coalfields and a few blocks in Jharkhand. Read the full report here.
Source: Subhash Narayan, Kirtika Suneja, Financial Express.
