Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan rejects demand to dilute forest clearance process

NEW DELHI: The meeting of group of ministers on “go-no go areas”, or environmental issues relating to mining, saw Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan rejecting the dilution of forest clearance process suggested by the BK Chaturvedi panel.

The Chaturvedi committee had recommended drastic changes in the process, which included doing away with public hearing for the expansion of existing coal projects and seeking the concurrence of gram sabhas for mining. These proposals, if accepted, would enfeeble the Forest Rights Act and the Forest Conservation Act.

The tribal affairs minister Kishore Chandra Deo will be invited to the next meeting of the GoM The committee wanted mining to be banned only in “extremely dense forests”. “We can’t afford to lose these resources. If we decide to give it up, we will have to import and given the prices, our coal import bill could increase by $50 billion (about Rs 200,000 crore),” the report stated.

On her part, Natarajan is learnt to have said this proposal was unacceptable as it went against the Forest Conservation Act. Sources said the minister’s stand got the support of Home Minister P Chidambaram and Road Transport and Highways Minister CP Joshi.

The Chaturvedi panel’s suggestion of withdrawing the environment ministry’s order requiring forest clearance to precede grant of environmental clearance was also found to be unacceptable. In this context, the ministerial panel attention was drawn to the Supreme Court’s order on Lafarge, which institutionalizes this process.