Finally, there is some good news for the coal mining industry. After intense bitterness between them, the coal ministry and the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) in a preliminary exercise have jointly completed the identification of the coal blocks falling in the
Commercial Mining May Be Opened To Private Sector In A Limited Way
Subhash Narayan NEW DELHI
IN A step towards opening the commercial coal mining to the private sector, the government may allow companies holding captive mining leases to sell excess coal in the open market to meet the increasing coal demand for power generation.
Led by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who chaired a meeting between Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh, the two ministries today initiated an exercise to identify prima facie
Status Quo On Demarcating Coal-Bearing Areas For Now
THE government has stepped in to end uncertainties over coal mining caused by the tough stance of the environment ministry, as it gears up for the crucial initial share sale of state-owned Coal India.
Finding himself increasingly isolated in the Cabinet, minister of environment & forests Jairam Ramesh, has worked out a compromise with minister of mining Sriprakash Jaiswal.
Mr Ramesh had been playing the obstructionist by classifying 30 per cent of the area in nine coal fields as
Prompted by the Prime Minister’s Office, a high-level inter-ministerial panel has recommended that mining be allowed in as many as 77 coal blocks that were earlier made a no-no affair by the Environment Ministry.
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) may take a re-look at the restrictions imposed on coal mining in forest areas shortly. The Ministry had earlier imposed a complete ban on mining in nearly half of the coal bearing (forest) areas in nine coalfields.
