By IANS,
New Delhi : Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh Saturday said he would continue to pursue his “Go-No Go” concept of forest area classification to prevent illegal and arbitrary coal mining, but he has also suggested a few proposals to a ministerial panel to free more land for commercial exploitation by miners.
“I have not called for abandoning of the ‘Go-No Go’ concept, but I have said, within the Go-No-Go areas, how best to accommodate the needs of the country for coal production,” Ramesh told reporters here on the sidelines of a Confederation of Indian Industry conference.
“I have given some suggestions for bringing about a compromise. Let us see. It is up to the GoM to take a final view,” he said.
Ramesh said he made the suggestions at the GoM, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Thursday, and now it was for that panel to take a final view on the proposals.
The suggestions made by him, once accepted, would take effect “prospectively and not retrospectively” leading to better coal production, he added.
Ramesh said with nuclear energy becoming a concern and hydel projects facing opposition from the people due to fears of displacement, the energy security focus was shifting towards thermal power to meet the nation’s needs.
The environment ministry had in 2009 classified the country’s heavily forested regions into two regions – Go and No-Go – and imposed a ban on mining in the ‘No-Go’ zones through an indicative categorisation on environmental grounds.
This classification and ban – disallowing mining in 203 coal blocks having a potential of 660 million tonne a year – has triggered an intense debate among ministries of coal, power and steel, primarily against this move of the environment ministry.
At the CII event, Ramesh said India should look at setting its own carbon emission goals, basically “in its own interest” and “not to satisfy” other global powers.
“We won’t do anything (regarding carbon footprints) without you (global powers) doing something,” he said.
Responding to the industry that raised the issue of stalled projects due to environment ministry objections, Ramesh said he should not be slammed for doing his duty and enforcing the law of the land.
“If any project is in trouble, it is because that project has wilfully or unconsciously broken a law of land…whether it is environment law, forest law or coastal protection law,” he stressed.
“As long as laws are there, my duty is to enforce them. If I am enforcing it selectively, arbitrarily, haul me up. But don’t haul me up for enforcing the law,” he said.
Ramesh said it was unfortunate that there were “well-known” corporates, film industry, and organisations that were violating environmental laws and gave example of the 31-storey Adarsh Housing Society highrise in Mumbai that violated coastal regulation zone laws that led to his ministry recommending its demolition.
But, he agreed with the industry there must be “clarity and consistency” in the environmental laws.
“If clarity and consistency are there, nobody would mind observing the law,” he added.
Ramesh also called for “reviewing and revising” laws every 15 or 20 years after enactment to bring it up to date, as it was done with coastal regulation zone notification of 1991.