The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has asked the Coal Ministry not to auction coal blocks falling in inviolate areas. According to sources in the Ministry, the list of coal blocks that cannot be given green signal has already been checked and submitted to the Ministry of Coal.
Of the twenty-four blocks to be auctioned on Thursday, Marki -Mangli II located in Wardha Coalfields in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra being located inviolate area has been kept out of the auction process.
The idea of inviolate area is to identify dense forest area where no mining can take place. Earlier, the Ministry had sent the draft of inviolate forest policy to the Coal Ministry, which disallows any development or mining activity in dense forest areas.
“The objective was to enable the Coal Ministry to take views if any existing coal block falls in pristine forest area,” said the sources. A committee was constituted by Cabinet Secretary which indicated six parameters for identification of inviolate areas. These include forest type, forest cover, landscape integrity, biological richness, wildlife value and hydrological value. It was decided that any forest area that scores over 90 on a scale of 0-100 on all parameters would be restricted from mining.
The sources further informed that the Environment Ministry is further updating itself to make the process of clearance more simple and transparent without diluting any of the conditions. Of these, one is the creation of an integrated page on the website of the green Ministry where it will be possible to apply for environment clearance, wildlife clearance and forest clearance on the same page.