In July 2015, coal minister Piyush Goyal met with environment minister Prakash Javadekar to flag the issue of 70 mineral prospecting proposals that were pending with the latter's ministry.
Acting on a request from the union coal ministry and ministry of mines, an expert committee of union environment ministry has relaxed norms for prospecting of minerals and will allow the activity in moderately dense forests and open forests only on the basis of a general approval, submission of geo-referenced maps and in some cases direct applications to the state governments.
In July 2015, coal minister Piyush Goyal met with environment minister Prakash Javadekar to flag the issue of 70 mineral prospecting proposals that were pending with the latter's ministry. The coal ministry had also requested the environment ministry to exempt mineral prospecting activity from the forest clearance process.
Back in 2013, the environment ministry had turned down a similar request to exempt prospecting from the clearance process. The rejection was based on impact assessment studies done across three locations in the country which showed that the prospecting involved tree felling and disturbed the local flora and fauna extensively. In some cases, it also affected elephants passing through wildlife corridors. But, even as the studies showed that prospecting involved heavy-scale activities, the environment ministry has relaxed the norms.
The ministry's forest advisory committee, while accepting the coal ministry's request, has said that in areas that have more than 10 per cent crown density prospecting of minerals can happen with only a general clearance. The ministry though will not allow tree felling or construction of new paths and it has also made clear that the prospecting should happen away from protected areas and identified tiger corridors. The project proponent will also have to submit a proposal letter along with a geo-referenced map indicating boundary of the prospecting block and location of bore-holes where drilling will be carried out.
The environment ministry has also relaxed the norms for mineral prospecting projects in areas that have a higher density of tree cover. As per its expert committee, prospecting of minerals in areas where forest cover has less than 40 per cent crown density the state governments will submit a proposal in a letter form along with a geo-referenced map with details of the prospecting block. Tree felling and construction of new paths is also prohibited for this category of prospecting.
Currently, 52 per cent of India's energy needs are met by coal and 66 per cent of power generation is coal based according to Coal India Limited, the world's largest coal producer.
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