Essar Group chairman Shashi Ruia on Tuesday met environment minister Jairam Ramesh amid reports that his ministry is likely to take a call on Mahan coal block in Madhya Pradesh jointly allocated to it and Hindalco soon.
The block was jointly allocated to Essar and Hindalco, Aditya Birla Group's flagship company, for their thermal power plant.
The development follows soon after environment ministry giving stage 1 forest clearance to three coal blocks in Chhattisgarh.
"The Essar Group chairman today met Jairam Ramesh," a source said. However, he refused to divluge the details of the discussion.
A high-powered ministerial panel is likely to meet early next month to decide the fate of six coal projects, including Mahan, which have been stalled due to pending environmental approvals.
Sources had said the fate of six coal blocks allotted to firms like Essar, ADAG, the Aditya Birla Group for fuelling their thermal power plants is likely to be decided by the Group of Ministers (GoM) on coal next month.
The GoM had asked MoEF to outline the current status of these blocks in the next meeting.
{{/usCountry}}The GoM had asked MoEF to outline the current status of these blocks in the next meeting.
{{/usCountry}}The blocks which are likely to come up for discussion are the Mahan and Chhatrasal blocks in Madhya Pradesh, Morga-II and Parsa in Chhattisgarh and Ashok Karkata and Chakla in Jharkhand, sources had said.