10 of Coal India's expansion projects have received approval

2 Aug 2022 , 07:39 AM

The 10 state-owned CIL coal mining plants have so far received approval for their development, which would result in a 9.65 million tonne increase in capacity, Parliament was informed on Monday. In response to a shortage of supplies throughout the summer, the government had previously loosened the rules for expanding coal mines.

In response to a question in Rajya Sabha, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi stated that among the 10 projects of Coal India Ltd (CIL), three are in the state of Odisha, two are in the states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, two are in the state of Uttar Pradesh, and one is in the state of Chhattisgarh.

Environment clearances (EC) were granted in May for five coal mine expansion projects, while in the remaining five cases, they were granted in July.

Additional environmental safeguards have been supplied as a requirement for EC while being granted to these projects, both inside and outside the severely polluted area.

The coal ministry had pleaded with the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change to consider mine expansion without public consultation up to 50% of their production capacity in order to increase coal production to meet India’s energy needs.

A letter from the Center titled “Regarding Special Dispensation for Consideration of Environment Clearance (EC) from 40 to 50% Expansion in Coal Mining Projects, Within the Existing Premises/Mine Lease Area, Without Additional Land Acquisition” was released on May 7th.

According to Joshi, this exceptional dispensation was only granted to mines that had already received a 40% dispensation as a result of prior reforms.

More than 80% of the domestic coal production is attributed to Coal India.

A K Jain, the coal secretary, had previously claimed that the lack of local coal was not to blame for the power crisis during the summer, but rather for the steep fall in electricity production from various fuel sources.