December 05, 2025 09:12 pm (IST)
Follow us:
Coal endangers India's fresh water sources: Greenpeace India
New Delhi, May 5 (IBNS) Even as the country reels under severe drought, information secured by Greenpeace suggests that India's "coal-hungry government" is willing to overlook policy meant to protect the country’s pristine forests, wildlife and the fresh-water sources.
The information accessed by Greenpeace India under the Right to Information (RTI) from the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) reveals that as many as 417 out of 825 current and future coal blocks should be categorised as inviolate areas as per hydrological parameters.
Last year, the Forest Survey of India (FSI) assessed 825 coal blocks based on the draft parameters for identification of inviolate forest areas. For applying the hydrology parameter, the MoEFCC has recommended excluding 250 m on either side of a first order stream while marking the boundaries of coal blocks.
"Taking this criteria into consideration, a whopping 50.5 percent of the coal blocks are rendered as ‘partially inviolate’ according to the RTI information (refer to theses letters from Forest Survey of India to MoEFCC, Coal Ministry to MoEFCC and MoEFCC to Coal Ministry)," a Greenpeace statement claimed on Thursday.
“It's been close to four years since the exercise to identify inviolate areas started and the MoEFCC is still dragging its feet on this policy while the coal ministry is going ahead with auctioning and allotting these precious forest areas,” said Nandikesh Sivalingam, senior campaigner, Greenpeace India.
“The MoEFCC’s silence gives tacit go-ahead to the government’s coal-dependent energy policy. In effect, it allows the greed for coal to take precedence over everything else, including the inevitable consequence of coal mining destroying sensitive forest areas and freshwater sources in our drought-afflicted country,” said he.
“Mining in the forests even beyond the 250m of the river banks often has a dramatic detrimental impact on the catchment, including water pollution, erosion and worsening water scarcity during dry season,” said Sivalingam.
He added that if all the streams (second and third order) in the river basins are to be taken into consideration, the impact on central India’s water sources could be much higher.
Besides the hydrological parameters, the RTI data accessed by Greenpeace India shows that currently the list of inviolate coal blocks stand at a mere 49, covering an area of 1271.43 Sq Km as per four parameters: forest cover, forest type, biological richness and landscape integrity.
Reports show that the government has started applying the inviolate policy partially. However it is not clear how they include or exclude coal blocks from this list. At the same time, coal blocks listed as inviolate are being auctioned/allotted to mining companies.
“What is worrying is the callousness that the MoEFCC has towards protecting the country’s pristine natural resources. It's no longer only about forests, it's clear that mining in the central Indian forest could also have serious impacts on water sources,” said Sivalingam.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Latest Headlines
Tamil Nadu and Puducherry reel under Cyclone Ditwah fury! Streets flooded, red alert issued, storm moving closer
Sun, Nov 30 2025
Cyclone Ditwah affects Tamil Nadu: Flights cancelled, schools shut
Sat, Nov 29 2025
Delhi air pollution worsenses, AQI deteriorates to 384; several NCR pockets in 'severe' category
Fri, Nov 28 2025
Delhi orders 50% office attendance as toxic air triggers GRAP-3
Mon, Nov 24 2025
COP30 in Belém delivers huge climate finance push
Sun, Nov 23 2025
Three dead as strong 5.7 magnitude earthquake hits Bangladesh, tremors felt in Kolkata
Fri, Nov 21 2025
Tremors rock Kolkata as strong earthquake hits Bangladesh
Fri, Nov 21 2025