Jairam clears 3 new C’garh coal blocks

Jun 24, 2011 - Rashme Sehgal |

Age Correspondent

New Delhi

Bowing to the coal ministry’s demands, minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh overruled the forest advisory committee’s recommendation and gave the green signal to open up the Tara, Parsa East and Kante Basan coal blocks in Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo-Arand forest region.

Mr Ramesh spelt out some key reasons why he disagreed with the committee’s final recommendations: the three blocks, he noted, were “clearly on the fringe” of the biodiversity rich Hasdeo-Arand forest region (a no-go area). “As long as mining is restricted to the fringe area, and the state government does not come up fresh applications for opening up the main area, I am of the opinion that permission can be accorded,” the minister said.

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