The Mahan coal block, that was the centre of anti-mining protests by locals and non-governmental organisation Greenpeace over the past few years, was marked off limits from the list of 74 coal blocks in Schedule II and III of the coal ordinance, a Right to Information (RTI) reply has revealed.
The Mahan coal block, that was the centre of anti-mining protests by locals and non-governmental organisation Greenpeace over the past few years, was marked off limits from the list of 74 coal blocks in Schedule II and III of the coal ordinance, a Right to Information (RTI) reply has revealed.
The NGO's RTI plea had asked for a list of coal blocks classified as inviolate off limits, as per the criteria of Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change and Forest Survey of India. The application had also asked for names of those no-go coal blocks removed from the list of 101 coal blocks earmarked for auctioning.
The NGO's plea was not responded to within the 30 day stipulated period and went for first appeal. As part of the first appeal response, the coal ministry has said, "On the recommendation of MoEF&CC, Namchik-Namphuk (Arunachal Pradesh), Marki-Mangli-II (Maharashtra) and Mahan (Madhya Pradesh) coal blocks were withdrawn from the auction process."
Greenpeace had filed this RTI with the coal ministry this January after its senior campaigner Priya Pillai was offloaded from a London bound Air India flight, where she was going to speak with British parliamentarians on the issue of mining in Mahan's Sal rich forests.
Responding to the coal ministry's RTI response, Priya Pillai said, "Earlier we had also filed an RTI with MoEF & CC asking them to clarify their position on the Mahan coal block and Mahan forests. The coal ministry's response shows that our stand is vindicated as we were also of the opinion that the forests in Mahan are rich in biodiversity and hence mining should not be allowed there."
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