GoM may take up MoEF report on "inviolate" forest areas tomorrow

NEW DELHI: The inter-ministerial group under Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar may meet tomorrow to discuss issues related to GMDC's coal mine and look into a report by environment ministry panel on identifying "inviolate" forest areas to bar mining there.

"The Group of Ministers (GoM) may meet on February 18 to deliberate on issues with regard to Morga-II coal block in Chhattisgarh allocated to Gujarat Mineral Developmental Corporation," a Coal Ministry official said.

Besides, the report of high-level Environment Ministry panel recommending total ban on mining activities in areas of national parks, tiger reserves and wildlife sanctuaries and suggesting that thick forests in such areas be classified as "inviolate" may also be placed before GoM, the official added.

The panel was chaired by then Environment Ministry Secretary T Chatterjee. "The GoM is may also assess the environment ministry's report on identifying "inviolate" forest areas where mining should be barred," the official said.

According to the Report of the Committee to Formulate Objective Parameters for Identification of Inviolate Forest Areas: "Mining blocks shall be considered inviolate if majority of grids falling within a block have been labelled as inviolate."

The panel had submitted the report in July, but the ministry made it public only last month amid a nationwide debate on the issue of diversion of forest areas for mining and infrastructure projects.

Morga-II coal block having geological reserves of 350 million tonne was allocated to GMDC in August 2006 for commercial use.

The members of the inter-Ministerial panel include Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan.