Two govt committees differ on mining in Western Ghats

Two government committees have come out with contrary view on mining in ecologically fragile Western Ghats.

Updated on: Nov 21, 2011, 20:38:25 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Two government committees have come out with contrary view on mining in ecologically fragile Western Ghats.

While, a committee headed by ecologist Madhav Gadgil and constituted by Environment Ministry has recommended ban on mining in western ghats, a panel of scientists from Indian Council for Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) constituted by Supreme Court wants mining to be allowed but in an environment friendly manner.

“We have recommended underground mining for entire western ghats as we cannot allow valuable minerals to remain untapped,” said a senior ICFRE official on condition on anonymity.

The council was asked by the court to conduct environment impact assessment (EIA) of mining by 104 companies in Bellary, Tamkur and Chitradurg districts of Karnataka, which fall in western ghats and submit its recommendations. The Supreme Court had banned iron ore mining in these districts following adverse report from the state Lokayukta.

While admitting huge environmental loss because of rampant illegal mining in these districts, the committee has advocated use of modern technology for mining instead of an outright ban. “If minerals below Stockholm city can be mined why it cannot be done in Bellary or other parts of western ghats,” the ICFRE official asked.

But, for that, the committee has recommended use of modern technology for underground mining like done in Australia and entire Europe. “These technologies would be cost effective if used for mining all types of minerals,” he said. The committee has also recommended that mining lease should be minimum 25 hectares and companies should operate mines in a consortium.

The Gadgil committee, constituted to examine the impact of industrial projects in entire Western Ghats, wants the mining to be out-rightly banned. The committee has also found that environment impact assessment of projects allowed in one of the world’s most ecologically sensitive area was flawed and has suggested setting of Western Ghats Ecology Authority to regulate developmental activities in the region.

“We are examining the findings of the report,” a ministry official said, three months after Gagdil, who is also member of the National Advisory Council, submitted his report. It is believed that there is lot of pressure on the ministry to debunk the committee’s recommendation to ban mining and restrict projects in the western ghats.

The ministry is also waiting for the Supreme Court’s final verdict of mining in Karnataka before taking a call on Gadgil committee report.

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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