How the Union Coal Ministry Made Dense Forests Available for Mining, Benefitting Adani Group
New Delhi: The Union coal ministry defied the environment ministry to open up the country’s densest forest areas for mining after lobbying by an industry group of the top private power sector companies, reveal records accessed by The Reporters' Collective.
The Association of Power Producers wrote to the coal ministry in November 2021 to open up for auctions two coal blocks nestled in one of India’s densest forests to address the rumoured coal shortage in the country. But the lobbying was poised to benefit its member, the Adani Group.
One of the two blocks the Association lobbied for is situated in Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli coalfields and is close to a thermal power plant the Adani Group acquired in March 2022. The other, situated in Chhattisgarh’s pristine Hasdeo Arand forests, is adjacent to blocks mined by the Adani Group.
The coal ministry not only acted on the association’s demand to open up the two blocks but went a step ahead and pushed for a review of the environment ministry’s suggestions in 2018 that 15 coal blocks, which includes one of the two, should be exempt from coal mining auctions since they fall in areas that have high biodiversity value and need to be conserved.
To pave the way for the review, the coal ministry tasked the country’s Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI) to see if portions of these 15 blocks could be carved out to allow mining without disturbing the forests. The Institute, affiliated with the coal ministry, is a “specialist consultant for all those in the mineral and mining sector”, according to its website.
The institute, in its presentation, clearly informed the coal ministry that none of the 15 coal blocks can be opened up for mining since they are in areas covered by very dense forests.
However, the coal ministry overruled its own expert scientific institution.
The story was originally published by The Reporters' Collective. Read the full report here.
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