CB BureauOperations of all power or steel plants without the requisite environmental and forestry clearance have been put on hold till the status of their environment and forest clearance for coal supply sources are not furnished.
All these projects require a large amount of coal as raw material and availability of requisite quantity of coal is essential to ensure viability of these projects.
The ministry in a circular said, ‘In order to assess the likely adverse environmental impacts of such projects, it is desirable to have information about quality of coal to be used. In the absence of correct data on the quality of coal, the quarrying capacity may be computed wrongly, which may have adverse impact on environment.’
The ministry said it is necessary that the status of environment and forestry clearance of the coal source is ascertained well in advance to avoid a ‘fait accompli situation’.
‘It has been decided that all such proposals relating to thermal power, steel and sponge iron which are pending with the ministry or state for consideration of environmental clearance shall be deferred and delisted till the status of environment and forestry clearance of the coal supply source for Indian coal or the memorandum of understanding for imported coal is furnished,’ it said.
The ministry said all infrastructure projects dependent on coal as a raw material shall be considered only after firm coal linkage is available and the status of environment and forestry clearance of the coal sourced is known.