Centre to take final call on no-go zones for mining in Saranda

The government is set to take a final call on the Jharkhand government's request to reconsider the blanket ban on new iron ore mining in Saranda forests. Sources in the environment ministry said that the Jharkhand government has made its representations before an expert committee that was formed to address this issue and its recommendations, along with those of the ministry, will be soon put up before union environment minister Dr.Harsh Vardhan.

The expert committee was formed last year after Jharkhand Chief Minister Ragubar Das asked the environment ministry to relax the go, no-go mining zones it had put in place as part of the 'sustainable iron ore mining' plan released last June. The committee is chaired by environment secretary CK Mishra. Director general of forest; secretary, ministry of steel; secretary, coal ministry and secretary, ministry of mines are the other members.

Officials from the Jharkhand government said that the ministry was requested to relax the blanket ban on mining in Ankua forest as it was a major source of industrial revenue for the state government. It was submitted that instead of waiting to exhaust resources on the eastern boundary, stringent environmental conditions should be laid down and mining should be allowed in current no-go areas.

As part of its plan, the government has capped annual mining in Saranda-Chaibasa region at 64 million tonnes per annum and had said that only those mining leases falling in the eastern boundary of Saranda were to be considered in mining zones. It tagged mines in Ankua forest block as no-go areas and kept the mining operations in abeyance. The Ankua forest block includes the Chiria mine which is India's single largest iron ore deposit, estimated to be about two billion tonnes.

Placing the mines in Ankua in no-go zone has put brakes on big-ticket mining plans of Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Vedanta and JSW Steel Ltd. The new mining plan was prepared in light of the Justice MB Shah enquiry commission report on illegal mining of iron ore and manganese in Jharkhand.

The government's 2018 plan though did not rule out mining in no-go zones in the future and it had stated that mines falling these zones and conservation areas were kept in abeyance till a final view was taken on the environmental sustainability of mining in the region.

The Saranda forest is spread over 820 sq.kms and is home to lush Sal forests and a sizeable population, which use the forest as a corridor to move towards Odisha.

CAP ON MINING

• The government has capped annual mining in Saranda-Chaibasa region at 64 million tonnes per annum. 
   
• It said that only those mining leases falling in the eastern boundary of Saranda were to be considered in mining zones.