Coal auctions may open up pristine forests for mining

nNEWDELHI: The ongoing auction of 41 coal mines across the country would open up pristine and contiguous forests for mining in parts of central India, government documents show, even as the Union environment ministry has said decisions regarding auctioning were being taken on a case-by-case basis.

The government was until 2015 considering declaring dense forests with hydrological value, and those near or overlapping streams and rivers as inviolate and hence no mining zones.

Jairam Ramesh, the then Union environment minister, proposed go and no-go area classification for coal mining in 2009-10, and nine major coal blocks were studied for their biodiversity and forest cover.

As many as 70% of the blocks were found to be suitable for mining while 30% were categorised as no-go areas. But the classification was never implemented following stiff resistance from steel, power and coal sectors.

Ramesh’s successor, Jayanthi Natarajan, began an exercise for categorising inviolate forest areas in 2012. A group of ministers was constituted earlier in 2011 to consider environmental and developmental issues related to coal mining. It suggested all forests that cannot be regenerated to the desired capacity should be protected, according to a July 2012 report of the environment ministry.

The report, a copy of which HT has seen, dealt with the formulation of parameters for the identification of inviolate forest areas. The parameters included forest type and cover, biological richness, wildlife value, landscape integrity, and hydrological value.

The Forest Survey of India, Wildlife Institute of India, National Biodiversity Authority and National Tiger Conservation Authority were tasked with applying these parameters and to come up with a list of inviolate areas, according to the report.

Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air director Nandikesh Sivalingam received a list of proposed inviolate areas under the Right To Information (RTI) Act from the environment ministry in 2015.

The list showed that nearly 50% of the 825 current and future coal blocks met the inviolate area parameters. Sivalingam filed more queries under the RTIS, but did not receive any information on the implementation of the inviolate forest area policy.

Fatehpur East, Morga II, Morga South (in Hasdeo Arand) in Chhattisgarh and Bandha in Madhya Pradesh are some of the 41 blocks being auctioned that were on the 2015 list of inviolate areas. A description of mines up for auction on Metal Scrap Trade Corporation (MSTC) website shows several of the mines do not have required forest clearance and are in the midst of protected forests.

For instance, 19 sq km of Madanpur North’s 21 sq km area in Chhattisgarh is forested and several streams pass through it before joining the Hasdeo river. It awaits both forest and environmental clearance. Morga II has an area of 26.64 sq km, out of which 85% is in forest land. The area falls within the drainage of the Hasdeo, a major tributary of the Mahanadi river. Almost the entire Morga South coal block is spread over the forest land as per site description on the MSTC website.

Environment ministry secretary RP Gupta said they have come out with parameters and decisions about the auction will depend on location, importance and nature of the projects.

Officials cited the instance of Jharkhand’s Saranda Forest and said mining there was being restricted to a part of it after a study was conducted there.

SOME OF THE BLOCKS BEING AUCTIONED IN CENTRAL INDIA ARE ON A 2015 LIST OF INVIOLATE FOREST AREA, A CLASSIFICATION THAT WAS NOT IMPLEMENTED BY THE ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY AT THE TIME