The ministry of environment and forests has denied permission to Adani Group for coal mining at Lohara near Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), for setting up a 1980 MW power plant in Gondia
district of Maharashtra.
Adani Power is setting up the project at Tiroda (Gondia) and had planned to source the coal from Lohara.
"Our Ministry issued a letter on January 7, to Adani Group stating that the permission (for coal mining) has been denied to them since it would destroy rich forests and tiger habitat," Union minister Jairam Ramesh, told reporters after his visit to Lohara.
Ramesh who met several environmental activists here yesterday assured them that "there will be no review and no reconsideration" in this matter.
Dismissing any flip flop, Ramesh categorically said the coal block was alloted to the company earlier by the Coal ministry and environment and forest Ministry should have been consulted.
"Our ministry has declined permission and informed the coal ministry to allot an alternative coal block to Adani. I am holding meeting with Coal Minister once in a month to discuss such issues personally," Ramesh added.
He said the forest ministry has launched an exercise of mapping to identify the coal blocks falling under forest lands and endangering wild life and forests.
The ministry will give a 'go' and 'no-go' signal in such cases which means only after such permission, coal mining can be taken up, Ramesh said citing the exercise being conducted at Nand Karan in Jharkhand where out of 58 coal blocks, 38 have been given go and 21 no-go.
Similar exercise is being conducted in Talchar, Ibb Valley, Raniganj (West Bengal), Hansdeo (Chhattisgarh), he said.
Acknowledging the demand of coal for power production, Ramesh said the requirement will increase to 1,000 million tonnes from the present 500 million tonnes.
Coal is abundantly available in Jharkhand, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, he said.
Ramesh also expressed concern over increasing pollution levels and said Chandrapur is the fourth most polluted city in the country after Wapi, Ankleshwar (Gujarat) and Ghaziabad.
Hence the ministry has decided against new industries in Chandrapur for the next eight months to control industrial pollution, he said.
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