Go,no-go has no legal basis: environment minister

Union environment minister,Jayanthi Natarajan,at a recent meeting told the Group of Ministers that the system of go and no-go has not been mandated by the Forest Conservation Act.

Union environment minister,Jayanthi Natarajan,at a recent meeting told the Group of Ministers (GoM) that the system of go and no-go has not been mandated by the Forest Conservation Act,1980 (FCA) and does not have any legal standing.

This is a significant departure from the stand advocated by her predecessor Jairam Ramesh,namely that allowing coal mining in forest areas would defeat the spirit of the FCA.

Natarajan,however,told the GoM,chaired by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee,that the environment minister cannot grant blanket permission for diversion of forest land for non-forest purpose.

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The GoM has been set up to study the go,no-go classification that has been criticised by the coal,steel and power ministries and to resolve issues related to the mining of coal.

The classification has in effect stalled production of 600 million tonne of coal from 203 blocks.

At the meeting,Natarajan said her ministry agreed with nine out of 18 recommendations given by the BK Chaturvedi Committee that was set up by the GoM to examine the efficacy and legality of existing forest clearance norms and procedures being followed.

The Committee recommended abandoning the go and no-go system and also lifting the moratorium imposed under the Comprehensive Environment Pollution Index (CEPI) form Chandrapur and Korba coalfields by September 30.

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In view of the recent Supreme Court judgements on Lafarge cement and Bailadila iron ore mine,Natarajan said that her ministry has agreed to review the circulars issued on November 1,2010 and March 31,2011,on account of which,many projects have been stranded.

Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma had asked the environment ministry to relax environment clearance norms for projects up to Rs 100 crore or mandate investors to spend 5 per cent of their investment on improving the environment.