In 'public interest' MoEF relaxes green norms for coal sector

To ramp up coal production to meet growing power needs in 'public interest', the environment ministry has given several relaxations for the coal sector without mandatory public hearing.

Updated on: Sep 9, 2014, 15:02:39 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

To ramp up coal production to meet growing power needs in 'public interest', the environment ministry has given several relaxations for the coal sector including allowing expansion in a critically polluted Chandrapur, Maharashtra and three-fold increase in expansion without mandatory public hearing.

These exemptions were given after a meeting between environment minister Prakash Javadekar and coal minister Piyush Goyal to increase coal production to meet the demand of thermal power plants which were generating less electricity due to coal shortage.

“We have taken prompt decisions after meeting with coal minister,” Javadekar had told HT last week.

The ministry issued a two-page order just to allow coal expansion in Chandrapur which the Central Pollution Control Board in 2013 categorised as critically polluted under Comprehensive Environment Pollution Index (CEPI) that rated different zones in the country on environmental parameters.

“It is noted that while the CEPI score is still high in Chandrapur, coal mining activities are site specific depending on availability of coal. Coal mining activities do not seem to be major contributor to the pollution load in the area. Taking into account the issues in totality, it has been decided that the existing moratorium imposed in Chandrapur may be kept in abeyance temporarily for expansion projects for coal mining in the area,” a two-page order issued by the ministry said.

The ministry has, however, imposed nine conditions for the Expert Appraisal Committee to allow expansion in Chandrapur.

A day after this order, the ministry increased the expansion limit for coal mines without mandatory public hearing by three times to the original level.

It also removed the earlier condition of maximum expansion allowed of 25%.

In 2012, the ministry had allowed one time expansion of existing coal mines by 25% or two million tonnes a year whichever was lower.

Now increasing production up to six million tonnes for mining in case of mines having generating capacity of more than 20 million tonnes a year will not require any consent from locals.

This comes some days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised on participatory approach in decision making.

This order comes about two months after the ministry said up to 50% expansion of coal mining will not require fresh environmental appraisal and therefore, new environmental approval.

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

Follow India news real-time updates and the latest news covered on Hindustan Times, featuring today's critical updates on Sonam Wangchuk LIVE and more across India.