Clearances of only 25 percent proposals take more than a year: MoEF

26 Sep 2011 Evaluate

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has rejected B K Chaturvedi’s committee report, where forest clearance procedures were leading to up to six years of delays in coal projects, the Ministry said, it disposes majority of the cases within a year. The MoEF in its official document said ‘after receipt in the Ministry, majority of the cases are decided within one year. Disposal of only 25% proposals take more than a year.’

In June 2011, the Group of Minister (GoM) on coal had appointed an expert panel under the observation of the B K Chaturvedi, to examine and suggest steps for regeneration of better quality forests affected by the coal mining, has said that the procedures followed for clearances to projects ‘have led to delays of 3-6 years which are unsustainable.’ Opposing the observation of B K Chaturvedi committee, constituted at the instance of GoM on Coal, MoEF also attributed the delays mainly to ‘the delay in submission of the essential information/document by the state government/user agency concerned.’

The expert committee has also identified problems in identification of compensatory affforestation, land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement measures as the main reasons for the delays in granting clearance to the projects. The expert panel made around 18 recommendations, however, the ministry has agreed on only eight suggestions.

The Maharatna Company Coal India (CIL), which account for 80% of the India’s coal production has frequently said that a number of its projects are getting delayed in forest and environment clearances. As per the CIL Chairman, N C Jha, despite the in-principle clearance from MoEF, which gets delayed by up to six years, final clearance takes an equally long time. According to the rules, the forest clearances should be granted within 300 days.

The CIL says its 168 projects are pending for ministry clearance at state and central government. Around 114 projects of the public sector firm are awaiting Stage-I clearances (In-Principle Approval), out of which 92 projects are waiting for green signal at the state level, which the remaining are pending before the MoEF for clearance. And around 54 projects are stuck for stage-II clearance i.e. final approval including 31 at the state level.

© 2025 The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. MoneyWorks4Me ® is a registered trademark of The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd.

×