The Ministry of Power (MoP) has requested the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to amend its recently-issued diktat governing green clearance to coal-based projects, which are required to have obtained firm coal linkage or the prior grant of environment and forest clearances to the associated coal mining projects.- In a recent communiqué to the Secretary of the MoEF, Vijai Sharma, the Power Secretary, P Uma Shankar, has called for the following modifications in the said circular, so as to not disrupt the capacity addition programme of the power ministry:
- Environmental clearances to be accorded for all projects, which have been granted coal linkage by Standard Linkage Committee (SLC), without insisting for the source of coal.
- Forest clearance of the coal blocks, which are already in `Go` area, should not be insisted upon for grant of environmental clearance for the end-use project.
- The MoEF issued the circular on November 1, 2010 to ensure that the end-use plants come up in synchronization with coal supplies, to preclude their idling.
- Through this circular, the MoEF mandated that for linkages provided by the coal ministry, developers would have to provide proof of coal availability before being considered for clearances by the MoEF, while in case of imported coal-based projects, a copy of the MoU signed between the coal supplier and the project developer has to be furnished to the MoEF.
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