Jaipur | Jul 06, 2016: National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday refused to provide any relaxation to nearly 26,000 mines banned from mining in absence of environmental clearance. Taking a tough stand, the tribunal noted that EC is mandatory for mining and scheduled the next hearing on August 12.

The decision came as a jolt for the state government which was expecting relief for the mines that have been issued terms of reference (TOR). With this decision, the mining activities in 26,000 mines will remain on hold. State has 33,000 mines out of which about 7,000 have received EC.

"NGT refused to grant any extension to the mine owners. Only way as of now is to get EC and continue mining," said a senior official, who also claimed that the decision will bring market distortion, pushing prices of construction material upward.

Though on June 13 the tribunal had allowed mines with TOR to operate. However, the very next day the decision was rolled back by the bench.

'Terms of Reference' is a pre-stage of getting environmental clearance. It is issued after the applicant completes the public hearing, data collection and submits all documents to SEIAA.

Officials maintained that most of the mines that are barred from mining are in clusters exceeding 25 hectares. "The process is way lengthy. Just to issue 'term of reference', which is a pre-stage of granting EC, consumes almost a year. Another six months go in giving final clearance," said a senior official of the department.

In a year nearly 1,000-1,100 applications can be dealt with by the existing staff. With this speed, it will take a long time before all mines get EC.

(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)