In a twist in Coal India Ltd’s tale, the state-run firm’s afforestation drive has turned into a roadblock for its plans to open up new mines in several states.
The areas afforested by the company have developed such good green cover that the environment ministry has declared them out of bounds for mining operations.
The ministry recently decided on classifying areas as ‘Go’ and ‘No-Go’ regions as part of efforts to cut delays in environmental clearance.
A No-Go tag completely rules out mining operations and tells companies not to waste time or resources over proposals in such areas. A Go tag would mean the government would consider proposals.
Coal India now finds that some of the major mine areas in Moher basin of UP’s Singrauli coalfield besides Orissa’s Talcher and IB Valley have been marked No-Go due to the quality of plantations, which have grown into thick forest cover over the years.
When contacted, CIL chairman Partho Bhattacharya said, ‘‘This is a vindication of Coal India’s ecofriendly mining operations. The environment ministry should consider our application for clearances as we are confident of revegitating mined out areas.’’
CIL is now suggesting ‘May-Go’ as an additional criteria between Go and No-Go blocks. This is because the demarcation is done on the basis of satellite images and there are possibilities of errors in judging the thickness of forest cover due to technical reasons such as pixelation.
With the economy expanding at a rate in excess of 5-6% in the last few years, it is estimated that 2,000-2,700 million tonnes of coal will be required in the next two decades. With such a target, Coal India is planning to expand annual production by more than 8%. An estimated Rs 95,000 crore investment in opencast mining and Rs 23,000 crore in underground mining will be required to attain the 2025 production target.
It is vital as rising population, expanding economy and a quest for improved quality of life is expected to push energy usage to around 450 kgoe (kg oil equivalent) a year by 2010. Commercial primary energy consumption in India has grown by about 700 per cent in the last four decades.
The areas afforested by the company have developed such good green cover that the environment ministry has declared them out of bounds for mining operations.
The ministry recently decided on classifying areas as ‘Go’ and ‘No-Go’ regions as part of efforts to cut delays in environmental clearance.
A No-Go tag completely rules out mining operations and tells companies not to waste time or resources over proposals in such areas. A Go tag would mean the government would consider proposals.
Coal India now finds that some of the major mine areas in Moher basin of UP’s Singrauli coalfield besides Orissa’s Talcher and IB Valley have been marked No-Go due to the quality of plantations, which have grown into thick forest cover over the years.
When contacted, CIL chairman Partho Bhattacharya said, ‘‘This is a vindication of Coal India’s ecofriendly mining operations. The environment ministry should consider our application for clearances as we are confident of revegitating mined out areas.’’
CIL is now suggesting ‘May-Go’ as an additional criteria between Go and No-Go blocks. This is because the demarcation is done on the basis of satellite images and there are possibilities of errors in judging the thickness of forest cover due to technical reasons such as pixelation.
With the economy expanding at a rate in excess of 5-6% in the last few years, it is estimated that 2,000-2,700 million tonnes of coal will be required in the next two decades. With such a target, Coal India is planning to expand annual production by more than 8%. An estimated Rs 95,000 crore investment in opencast mining and Rs 23,000 crore in underground mining will be required to attain the 2025 production target.
It is vital as rising population, expanding economy and a quest for improved quality of life is expected to push energy usage to around 450 kgoe (kg oil equivalent) a year by 2010. Commercial primary energy consumption in India has grown by about 700 per cent in the last four decades.
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