PC backs Jayanthi, says no to coal mining report

Environment got a new champion in home minister P Chidambaram who agreed with environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan's opposition to BK Chaturvedi report on diluting environmental regulations to fasten growth of the coal sector at a Group of Ministers (GoM) meeting.

Updated on: Aug 2, 2011, 23:06:25 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Environment got a new champion in home minister P Chidambaram who agreed with environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan's opposition to BK Chaturvedi report on diluting environmental regulations to fasten growth of the coal sector at a group of ministers (GoM) meeting.

Chidambaram reportedly said that if Chaturvedi committee report was accepted it will lead to huge environmental degradation after Natarajan had made a 20-minute presentation on why his report was bad for Indian forests.

Chidambaram had earlier opposed former environment minister Jairam Ramesh at the earlier GoM meeting but on Tuesday found substance in Natarajan's presentation, who was willing to accept some changes in the environment policy without adverse impact on forests.

After a hour long meeting, the GoM deferred its decision on the report because of the differences.

Chaturvedi wanted the GoM to consider nine policy issues including scrapping of go-no go policy in forest areas for coal mining, remove condition of quorum for seeking gram sabha's consent for projects, allow 25% expansion of existing projects without public hearing and further delegation of forest approval powers to the state government.

Natarajan reportedly did not agree with most of the recommendations saying most coal mining zones are India's worst environmental areas. Air pollution level in most of the coal mining areas was double of the national standard and water quality was also bad.

On specific recommendations of the committee, Natarajan was apparently of the view that scrapping of go no go policy can lead to delay in project approval and it was mooted by coal ministry to fasten project clearance.

She opposed the suggestion to alter Comprehensive Environment Pollution Index (CEPI) to allow coal mining.

Hitting back at the coal ministry, Natarajan said Coal India had claimed in its IPO that it has 64 billion tonnes of coal but was able to extract only 50 million tonnes annually.

On the critical issue of dilution of Forest Rights Act, the GoM decided to seek views of the tribal affairs minister Kishore Chandra Deo even as Chidambaram and road transport minister CP Joshi objected to the proposed dilution.

Chaturvedi, who made a presentation, found support from coal minister Shriprakash Jaiswal, power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and commerce minister Anand Sharma.

Sharma suggested that forest approval with the state or the central government should be based on cost of the project rather than the forestland involved. Mines upto five hectares are approved by the state, which is 71 % of the total projects approved, and rest of ministry or its regional offices.

The GoM decision to call attorney general GE Vahanvati was deferred after the ministers sought time to study the Supreme Court orders on Bellary and Lafarge and its implications for the sector.

Environment ministry will circulate the orders to members of the GoM.

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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