Centre defends exemptions for strategic, atomic mineral mining

The Centre on Monday said it has received a letter from the Tamil Nadu government opposing the exemption granted to projects involving mining of critical, strategic and atomic minerals from public consultation.

It also said the exemption will not compromise environmental, social, health and livelihood concerns.

In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Environment, Kirti Vardhan Singh, said the letter dated September 12 requested the withdrawal of the office memorandum issued on September 8.


The memorandum exempted these mining projects from the requirement of public consultation under the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006.

The minister said the communication from Tamil Nadu was examined in detail.

The environment ministry informed the state government that the exemption was issued under an already existing provision of the EIA Notification, Clause 7(III)(i)(f), which allows projects relating to national defence, security or other strategic considerations to be exempted from public consultation.

According to the reply, the ministry clarified that the exemption was linked to the strategic importance of critical, strategic and atomic minerals for India's energy transition, defence preparedness, space research and nuclear power programme.

It also said the exemption will not compromise environmental, social, health and livelihood concerns, which would continue to be addressed through the existing EIA mechanism, including environment management plan, appraisal by an expert committee and post-environmental clearance monitoring.

The minister also said that no amendment to the EIA Notification was required because the exemption was already provided for in the 2006 notification.