India Looks to Resolve 'No Go" Coal Issues

The Indian Prime Minster Mr Manmohan Singh announced a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to resolve the “no go” areas in the coal blocks.

The decision was applauded by the Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal as it will finally solve the problems created by the Environment Minister’s decision last year.

The Environment Ministry had banned mining in what they called “no go ”areas where the forest cover was 30% or more. This classification affected 203 coal mining blocks which have the potential to produce up to 660 million tonnes of coal annually.

The controversial issue has driven up sharp divides between the Environment Ministry and the Coal and Power Ministry. As the Prime Minster constituted the GoM he said that the issue of allowing mining of coal in certain sensitive areas had to be amicably resolved.

The Coal Minister Mr Jaiswal said that he hoped that the issue of “go” and “no go” zones would be resolved before the forthcoming Budget session of Parliament that is due to start on February 21. A few days ago Power Minister Sushil K Shinde had expressed concern over the scarcity of coal, which has been impacting growth. The GoM is likely to meet within the next week and resolve the issue.