Green ministry eases coal mining norms

Power generation likely to get a boost as the move will help mining projects sidestep tedious public hearing process and delays, Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Dec 21, 2012, 02:46:00 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Share via

Copy link

Thermal electricity generation may get a boost with the environment ministry easing norms to increase capacity of existing coal mines by one-fourth. The new measures will do away with the cumbersome public hearing process.

“Fifty two of the 90 power stations in the country continue to be in a critical stock state and hence need special attention,” power secretary P Uma Shankar said in a letter to the coal ministry.

The coal ministry argued that Coal India Limited would not be able to increase mining capacity without removal of restrictions on expansion of existing coal mines.

The biggest stumbling block cited was environment ministry’s April 2010 circular exempting public hearing for expansion of the existing mining projects. Added conditions included use of better technology for mining, no additional deployment of manpower, equipment and water.

Now the ministry has removed these tough conditions and replaced it with just one condition that expansion would be subject to ceiling of two million tonnes per year where additional production was proposed to be transported by road and five million tonnes in case of mines connected by railways.

However, for expansion of existing projects the coal companies will have to seek permission of the expert appraisal committee (EAC) — mandated to consider environmental impact of the projects. The revised order also gives power to the EAC to allow expansion of projects even in critically polluted areas, where environment management plan was being implemented. In such cases, the EAC will have power to stipulate additional conditions in the approval given for mining.

With this, the environment ministry has met a long standing demand of the coal mining sector, even though coal companies have not improved their record on protecting the environment.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.