Ban non-coal activity in coal belts: Minister
By IANSFriday, February 4, 2011
LUCKNOW - Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal Friday sought a complete ban on all projects being undertaken in any of the coal belts across India.
The demand for coal is on the rise because of the increasing number of thermal power plants that are being built. Therefore it is important to ensure that no non-coal activity should be allowed in any area with potential availability of coal, Jaiswal told reporters here.
The minister said he had written to chief ministers of all such states where coal belts were identified.
He said the coal mining areas needed to be expanded to meet the increasing requirement of coal.
“However, various environment and forest related laws were coming in the way, he said.
With a view to finding a permanent solution to this problem, the prime minister has now appointed an 11-member committee of union ministers that will prepare a blue-print to chart a way out without causing any harm or damage to the eco-system, Jaiswal said.
Asked to comment on the Uttar Pradesh governments recent order whereby the established practice of extending protocol facilities to all central ministers had been discontinued, Jaiswal remarked: Apparently that has been done by (chief minister) Mayawati to discourage visits by union ministers, who, she thinks, would expose her misdeeds.
Training his guns at the chief minister, he said: The trouble with Mayawati is that she cannot look beyond her memorials and statues. If she had some good sense, the thousands of crores (of rupees) she had spent on these could have been utilized to build institutions, hospitals, medical colleges and the like in the name of those very Dalit icons like Ambedkar or Kanshi Ram.
