Assam may not recommend giving final clearance to CIL for coal mining in Dehing Patkai: Ministers

The Assam government on Saturday said it may not recommend to the Centre for giving final clearance to Coal India Ltd for coal mining inside Dehing Patkai forest if the decision causes damage to the environment. Addressing a joint press conference with Assam Industry minister Chandra Mohan Patowary, Forest minister Parimal Suklabaidya said, the state government "may not even allow underground mining" if any such decision harms the biodiversity of the area.

However, on the basis of the state government's proposal and recommendations of the Forest Advisory Committee, the Centre had given Stage-I clearance for 57.2 hectares with 28 conditions to Coal India Limited (CIL) in December 2019 by diverting 98.59 hectares of forest land in Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve. "We will not give permission to coal mining by destroying nature. Even after CIL fulfills all the 28 conditions, we may not recommend to the Centre for giving approval to them for mining in Dehing Patkai," Suklabaidya said.

Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary is spread across 111.42 sq km, while the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve with 937 sq km of area is surrounding the sanctuary in its periphery across Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts. The state government has not submitted any report to the Centre as yet and is carrying out GPS mapping to prepare a comprehensive document covering all aspects, the forest minister said.

Though mining was going on since 2003, the CIL had sought clearance in 2012, which was rejected. It applied again in 2019 for clearance of 98.59 hectares, out of which CIL was carrying out mining activities in 73 hectares.

For the remaining 41.39 hectares, the Centre asked CIL to submit a feasibility report for underground mining along with a compliance report regarding fulfillment of all other conditions mentioned in Stage-I clearance. The minister said, mining was stopped in October 2019 by the "BJP-led government" which will "not compromise on protection of environment." Asked why illegal coal mining was going on for almost three-and-a- half years after the BJP came to power in the state, Suklabaidya said, "We had sought approval papers from the CIL. When they failed to provide it, we issued notice to them. They were also paying royalty for the area. All these things took some time." The minister, however, claimed that the mining site does not fall under Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary and is located 9.9 km from it.

Commenting on Suklabaidya's recent visit to the mining site to carry out a study as per the chief minister's directive, Patowary said the forest minister will conduct a second round of "thorough extensive survey". "The Assam government does not give permission to mining, but the Government of India gives it. They sought a report from us and we gave it accordingly," Patowary said.

Asked what was Assam's stand while the Centre gave Stage-I clearance to CIL, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest A M Singh said, "The chief wildlife warden represented the state. We had sent our report earlier. A consensus had been reached in the meeting." In its last meeting in April 2020, the Standing Committee of the National Board of Wild Life (NBWL) under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change recommended the CIL's proposal for legalising mining for approval provided it fulfills the 28 conditions. The Assam Forest Department last month slapped a penalty of Rs 43.25 crore on CIL for carrying out illegal mining inside the forest, which is termed as the Amazon of East, for 16 years.

Earlier this month, North Eastern Coalfields, a unit of Coal India Ltd (CIL), had accepted that mining was going on since 2003 and claimed it had applied for renewal of its lease in 2003, when the agreement had expired, but the Assam government did not act upon this for a long time..