Paving the way for development of the 6 million tonnes per annum Tara coal block in Chhattisgarh, an expert panel has recommended the grant of environmental clearance to the project to the Environment Ministry.

A source privy to the development said that "A committee (Expert Appraisal) of environment ministry has recommended six million tonnes per annum Tara Coalmine Project of Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation for environmental clearance in a meeting held on January 4.”

The coal mine project is situated in the Hasdeo Arand Coalfields, in Sarguja district of Chhattisgarh.

The Forest Advisory Committee of the MoEF had earlier recommended against the grant of clearance to the project, asserting that it fell in a "no-go" area.

However, the Ministry of Environment and Forests overruled the recommendation in June last year and approved opening up of three coal blocks in Chhattisgarh, including Tara, for development.

In an order, former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had said he disagrees with the final recommendations of the FAC, which advised him to reject the proposals made by the Chhattisgarh government to open up the coal blocks and "decided to give stage-I approval" for the proposals.

He, however, had said final stage II approval would be contingent on the state government demonstrating full compliance with the provisions of the Forest Rights Act, 2006.

Citing six reasons for overruling FAC recommendations, he said the coal blocks are actually not in a no go area in the Hasdeo Arand forest region. He had said that "The first reason for my rejection of the FAC recommendation arises from my understanding that these coal blocks are clearly in the fringe and actually not in the biodiversity rich Hasdeo Arand forest region (a no go area).”

(Sourced from PTI)