"I am willing to sit down and hold discussion whether we need a more liberal definition of what a no-go is. I have an open mind at every step," Ramesh said when asked about Ahluwalia's disagreement with him on no-go areas in the forests where mining activities are prohibited.
"I have an open mind at every step," the minister told NDTV.
In a veiled criticism of Ramesh's approach, Ahluwalia on Wednesday had said: "If we get a sensible definition of what is 'no-go'... something that is called 'no-go' for now does not have to be 'no-go' for ever."
Stating that 35 per cent of these nine major coal mines happened to be in no-go areas, the minister said: "Now people are saying that this 35 per cent is too big and it should have been 20 or 10 per cent."
"This is not Azadpur mandi in which we are discussing go or no-go. There are certain criteria we have adopted," Ramesh added.
"We have to protect our forest and water resources and it turns out that 35 per cent of these nine major coal mines happened to be no-go areas," he said.
The minister said he did not "invent" the concept of 'go or no-go'.
"I didnot invent go or no-go. The Chairman of Coal India Limited (CIL)along with the Coal Minister came to see me in July 2009 and said why can't we have a go or no-go. It is their language. I said it is a good idea and let us work on it together.
"They worked out go and no-go for nine major coal fields in the country and we discussed that 65 percent is go area and the rest in no-go area," Ramesh said.
He said: "We need to protect out thick forests, wildlife reserves and water sources, which we need to protect from the ecology point of view."
Talking to CNN-IBN, Ramesh termed as "unfortunate" the allegations levelled against him by certain quarters, particularly after his ministry issued notice to Lavasa Corporation for their alleged green law violation at their project site in Pune district.
"How suddenly I am being accused of being an obstructionist. I find this debate completely unbalanced. It is unfortunate that a personal or a vituperative attack launched on me. There is no personal agenda here," he said.