Re-grassing to be part of government’s mining policy
Senior advocate Ashok Kumar Panda, appearing for the Centre, informed the court that this would be included as part of the 2019 national mining policy that was being formulated.
The Centre is all set to introduce re-grassing — a technique to reclaim land by growing grass on land affected by mining activity — as a mandatory condition for mining leaseholders in the National Mining Policy, 2019, which is being drawn up.
This is being considered on a suggestion made by the Supreme Court on Thursday.
Hearing a case of environmental violations by Odisha miners, a bench comprising justice SA Bobde and justice Deepak Gupta suggested, “In the course of hearing, the issue of deleterious effect of mining on vegetation in the area came up before us. In particular, it is well known that mining results in a complete elimination of grass in the area, which results in denial of fodder to herbivores...re-grassing technology is in existence today and it should be used.”
The court then directed the Odisha government “to look into the matter and make appropriate suggestions for implementing this proposal of re-grassing after termination of mining activities.”
Senior advocate Ashok Kumar Panda, appearing for the Centre, informed the court that this would be included as part of the 2019 national mining policy that was being formulated.
Earlier, by its 2017 judgement in the Odisha mining case, the top court had imposed a fine of ₹19,174.83 crores on mining leaseholders for environmental and forest clearance violations.
It had also directed the Centre to “revisit the National Mineral Policy, 2008” as it was then almost a decade old. “...it is high time that the Union of India revisits the National Mineral Policy...and announces a fresh and more effective, meaningful and implementable policy within the next few months ...before 31st December, 2017.”
Justice Bobde, while hearing the matter on Thursday, remarked, “When mining happens, there is large-scale de-grassing, due to which the habitat is destroyed and the fodder for bovines, which is freely available, is lost forever...”
“...One should be clear as to how a mining site will be utilised after closure of the mine....” said Kanchi Kohli, legal researcher with Centre for Policy Research.
