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.

On December 31, 2012, the Indian economy completed its worst year in a decade, with economic growth stagnant at around 5.5 per cent, and inflation stubbornly high at over 7 per cent.

Wants Tribal Consent Clause Toned Down

New Delhi: The PMO has stepped in yet again to push for dilution of the green clearance procedures, this time asking the environment ministry to render the need for projects to comply with the Forest Rights Act (FRA) almost redundant. The recommendation comes as the latest in a series of moves that the PMO has made to alter the environment and forest clearance process for projects even as it failed to fashion the National Investment Board as an over-arching regulator to supersede the environment ministry. The latest recommendation, substantially denting the importance of what was once UPA’s flagship scheme for tribals — the FRA — has again shown the hands-on approach the PMO has taken to tackle the environmental clearance process.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) may black list GMR Infrastructure from bidding for highways projects on the grounds that the company allegedly terminated a contract unilaterally wit

8 quarries fetch Rs 101 cr against reserve price of Rs 4.02 cr

High bidding may lead to higher sand, gravel rates. The first e-auction of sand mines, having environmental clearance in north India, today generated a lot of interest among mining contractors from across the region. The auction was held for eight quarries — three each in Jalandhar and Kapurthala and one each in Mohali and Ludhiana — spanning over 337 acres of land. Against the Punjab Government's reserve price of Rs 4.02 crore, the quarries fetched a record Rs 101.09 crore.

PANJIM: The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in its affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court, stated it has no objection to the present petition being heard on merit, sticking to its earlier stand that in case a mining project is located within 10 kms from a wildlife sanctuary or national park, environmental clearance should be accorded subject to obtaining clearance from the standing committee of the National Board of Wildlife.

This clearance puts the onus on the mine owner to submit an application and obtain wildlife clearance under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1973 “…as the environment clearance process is a parallel exercise and independent of any other statutory clearances.”

Stung by the “abrupt and unilateral” walkout of the GMR Group from the 555-km-long Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad National Highway project alleging delays in approvals, the ministry of road transport

The Legal Initiative for Forests and Environment disputed the claims of the National Highway Authority of India that has moved the Supreme Court for fast-track clearance of delayed highway projects.

Elaborating upon the Forest Advisory Committee meeting held in December 2012, Ritwick Dutta, environmental lawyer and member of LIFE said, “From the 29 projects put up for clearance, the FAC cleared as many as 17. Three of these proposals were from the NHAI and while two were cleared, one was sent back on the ground that they wanted more information.”