Coal news and updates

Elections slow down coal project clearances

April 25: After a dramatic increase in the number of coal mining projects getting statutory clearances since January 2014, there was a marked slackness in the month of March-April, according to information available with ICMW.

The total number of coal projects awaiting environment clearance (EC) and Terms of Reference (TOR) shot up to 102 as of April 25 from 89 on March 7. Of these, 63 were pending EC while the remaining 39 were waiting for TOR.

Earlier, the number of projects pending EC had dropped by 22 to 53 on March 7 from 75 on January 7, 2014, MoEF data showed. There was also significant improvement in the number of coal projects awaiting TOR (an important step in environmental impact assessment for any new project).

A number of important coal mining projects, including the Kusmunda expansion project of SECL, Manoharpur coal block of OPGCL and Dulanga project of NTPC, received nods from the ministry in recent months.

Commenting to the scenario, a source said the ongoing elections might have slowed down the process, but expected things to speed up once a new government takes place.