‘Different rules for irrigation, mining’

The Indian wildlife will have to bear the brunt of upcoming irrigation projects but not mining ones, Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh has decided.

Updated on: Sep 12, 2010, 23:36:22 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The Indian wildlife will have to bear the brunt of upcoming irrigation projects but not mining ones, Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh has decided.

The ministry has decided to allow irrigation projects even if they lead to submergence of wildlife areas. The same rule will not apply for mining projects in close proximity of national parks and sanctuaries.

“Irrigation projects are absolutely essential and cannot be put on par with mining projects,” Ramesh said, in an email response to HT.

His reaction came after the Forest Advisory Committee on Friday had some reservations over impact of Brutanga Irrigation Project on Baisipalli Wildlife Sanctuary and Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Nayagarh district of Orissa.

Ramesh on August 31 had given in-principle approval to the project almost a decade after it was initiated. The ministry had also stipulated studies on impact on wildlife as one of the conditions in the in-principle approval.

“I categorically deny that there is any re-think on approval given to Brutanga project,” Ramesh said.

But, local NGOs and wildlifers had protested against the decision saying it would impact movement of elephants across river Brutanga, on which a reservoir will be build submerging 1,500 hectares of land. The project is aimed at providing irrigation in 50,000 hectares of cultivable land in Nayagarh district.

Similarly, in Polavaram Dam in Andhra Pradesh, which the minister allowed in July, wildlife in the Papi sanctuary will get submerged affecting elephant and other wildlife population.

Ramesh is of the view that irrigation projects are important for nation’s food security while balancing the environmental concerns. That is the

probable reason that Ramesh had set aside wildlife concerns for two important irrigation plans approved since July this year.

In case of mining plans, especially in coal sector, the ministry has opted for zero tolerance to adverse impact on wildlife.

Ramesh had also made it clear that no mining projects will be allowed in ‘no-go’ areas, which constitute 35 per cent of forest areas where coal mining is being done.

The ministry is also looking at extending its ‘go’ and ‘no-go’ policy for other mining activities such as ores and bauxite.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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