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 The Supreme Court verdict is a victory for the environment over
corruption in the mining industry, said Greenpeace India, urging
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to reverse "its excessive
reliance on coal power as the engine of economic growth".
"It’s a strong message from the highest court in the country to the
government and industry that the laws of the land cannot be
circumvented and disregarded," said Vinuta Gopal, Greenpeace India's
Climate and Energy campaigner.
"The government has a stark choice — whether to develop a
pro-people, pro-green economic model, or stick with corrupt,
expensive, dirty energy," she added in a statement late on
Wednesday.
India is desperate for power, and coal is expected to remain at the
heart of its energy security for decades. Coal fuels more than
two-thirds of the power generated in India, yet a third of the
country's 1.2 billion people have no access to electricity.
While the government and corporations are investing in cleaner
energies such as solar and wind, analysts say it is nowhere near
enough to power India's industrial growth.
The graft scandal dubbed "Coalgate" came to light in 2012, after a
government audit showed that allocating the resources, instead of
auctioning them off, had cost the exchequer as much as $33 billion
over the past two decades.
Power, steel and cement companies who were allocated blocks must now
return them by the end of March, and the government will have to
auction them off. Shares in some companies that invested heavily in
coal mining projects sank after the ruling.
FIGHT OVER FOREST
One of the coal projects affected is the Mahan block in India's
central state of Madhya Pradesh.
The project has been at the center of bitter battle between local
villagers and the Mahan Coal Ltd (MCL) - jointly owned by Essar
Energy Plc and the Aditya Birla-owned Hindalco Industries Ltd -
which wants to mine part of the Mahan forest for coal.
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Villagers, supported by Greenpeace India, oppose the project in
Singrauli district, saying that it will destroy the timber, leaves
and seeds of a centuries-old forest of Sal trees on which they
depend for income.
MCL says only a few thousand people will be affected, and they will
be compensated for lost income for as long as they live. The company
has invested $3.2 billion in the project, but has not started mining
yet due to a lack of official consent for villagers.
"Mining in Mahan would mean loss of livelihoods and rich
biodiversity. The government should review the criteria on which
coal blocks are allocated and spare the blocks in the forest areas,"
said Greenpeace India's Gopal.
MCL officials were not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Nita Bhalla, Editing by Alisa Tang)
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