Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren. (File Photo)
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Saturday said the Union coal ministry’s decision to go ahead with commercial mining by private players and subsequent coal block auctions, without taking its concerns into consideration, shows “blatant disregard” for co-operative federalism.
He said there are potential socio-economic and environmental costs to the decision, and that such mining would have an impact on forests and the tribal population.
“We have filed a petition in the Supreme Court. This is a big policy decision and the state government needs to be taken into confidence. Mining has been always a burning issue… A lot of issues like land, rights of the people… need to be sorted. We have decided not to hurry,” Soren said Saturday. He added that there should have been a survey to ascertain whether people benefited from the move. “That’s why we need to fight this,” he added.
“The need for fair assessment of the social and environmental impact on the huge tribal population and vast tracts of forest lands of the state and its residents which are likely to be adversely affected,” read an application filed by the state government.