Govt: Offshore mining concerns to be looked into production plan

The concerns of fishermen and local communities on offshore mining will be specifically addressed during the preparation of the production plan and Environmental Management Plan (EMP), the ministry of mines informed Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

- Jayashree Nandi

The ministry consulted various ministries including union environment ministry and the department of fisheries before notification of offshore mining blocks for auctioning, it added.

G Kishan Reddy, minister of mines was responding to questions by Kerala congress MP, Hibi Eden on whether “independent and impartial Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) were conducted “ before the blocks were identified for auction, and whether coastal communities were consulted before the tendering process.