Coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal on Monday said 10 more projects of Coal India Ltd facing ecological clearance hurdles had been given a go-ahead by environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh.
“Sixteen projects of Coal India have already been cleared. On Monday, Ramesh has told me that around 8-10 additional projects have been cleared by him, when we met in Parliament on Monday,” Jaiswal said at the sidelines of an annual coal sector event. He did not provide details.
Overall, around 150 projects of Coal India, with a production potential of 210 million tonnes, are awaiting the environment ministry’s approval. Concerns over the delays had already forced the government to lower the targeted coal production for the current financial year.
Projects are facing green hurdles not only on account of the No-Go policy barring mining in areas with high forest cover but also due to the Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI) guidelines issued by the MoEF to categorise the environmental quality of industrial clusters.
