Delhi-Ludhiana expressway talks begin, states express in-principle approval

With the Prime Minister’s Office stepping in to resolve the row between the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) over forest clearances to highway projects, the former has communicated the ball is now in the latter’s court. Senior officials in the NHAI and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said the highway authority maintained its stand and had communicated this to the MoEF and the PMO.

The two-member commission inquiring into the Adarsh Society controversy finished its hearings on Wednesday with the state government clarifying its stand before the panel that the 31-storey building in south Mumbai was constructed without Coastal Regulation Zone clearance.

Senior advocate Anil Sakhare, who represented the state before the commission, said the same stand was taken before the central government in 2010, when the controversy broke out.

The government also said the society should not have constructed 31 floors

In a setback for the Adarsh housing society, the Maharashtra government has told the two-member judicial commission probing the scam that it did not have the necessary environmental clearance even as the panel wrapped up the proceedings. The judicial commission of inquiry, which concluded the hearing yesterday, is expected to submit its final report to Maharashtra government next month, sources in the panel told PTI today.

Stepping in to resolve the row between the National Highways Authority of India and the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) over forest clearance to linear projects, the Prime Minister’s Office Tuesday worked out a formula to end the embarrassing stand-off between two arms of the central government.

A meeting called by the PMO decided the MoEF will submit a clarification delinking environmental clearance from forest clearance for linear projects following which NHAI will withdraw its court case against the ministry, highly placed sources said.

The environment ministry has decided to offer a comfort letter to bidders for the first set of coal blocks the government has put on the block but has refused to extend the offer to the ultra mega power projects.

The comfort letters are a provisional clearance for the blocks but fall short of being a legally enforceable document, a compromise worked out at the behest of Pulok Chatterji, principal secretary to the Prime Minister.

Things may have come to a boil between the National Highways Authority of India and the Ministry of Environment and Forests over green clearances to road projects last week with the former going to court in protest, but they have been simmering for long enough. The NHAI has for long been demanding exemption from the Forest Rights Act for its road projects and now derives strength from the recent recommendations made by a Committee of Secretaries on the issue.

Chaired by the Law Secretary, this committee — specifically examining the NHAI’s demand vis-a-vis the ministry’s contentions — gave an opinion in favour of the NHAI. The committee has opined that the FRA may not be insisted upon as far as road projects are concerned.

The Punjab Industries Department’s claim that it was set to rake in Rs 234 crore through the auction of 22 sand quarries across the state has turned out to be a pipedream. Having basked in the glory of raking in huge revenues for the state by auctioning its sand quarries with all environmental clearances, the department was in for a shock when just two successful bidders came forward to deposit the bid amount. The state thus received just Rs 11 crore.

Sources in the Industries Department informed The Tribune that they had received 50 per cent of the bid amount from just two successful bidders. While Rs 9 crore has been received from the highest bidder for Parchian Biharipur quarry in Ludhiana, Rs 2 crore has been received from the bidder for Gag Digara quarry in Jalandhar.

The four-member National Green Tribunal headed by Justice VR Kingaonkar barred the Environment and Forests Ministry from granting any environment clearance to Goa's iron ore mines without its approval, even as it ordered stoppage of all mining at mines whose initial clearance of five years had expired.

But the Tribunal's order has no immediate effect as all mining operations in Goa are already stayed by the Supreme Court since October on a petition filed by Goa Foundation.

Long-term lenders like IIFCL and IDBI Bank are unlikely to fund road projects where land acquisition is incomplete, a move that could scuttle plans to award projects of 8,000 km this fiscal year. Lenders and builders have approached the finance ministry, road ministry and NHAI, insisting that road contracts should not be awarded without all clearances in place.

“We are not taking up new projects unless 100% land acquisition is done. We are taking up the issue with NHAI,” IIFCL chairman SK Goel told FE. “We feel other lenders will follow suit,” he added.

In the absence of transport network and faster envt clearances, benefits will be limited

After nearly 40 years of state ownership, the chorus of support for privatisation of coal mines is growing louder. With the economy ravenously short of coal to fire its power plants, and the state-owned Coal India Limited (CIL), which has a near monopoly in the sector, failing to meet the ever increasing demand from industry, the cause of privatisation is gathering strength.