The government is likely to give final forest clearance to 50 coal blocks soon, bringing relief to companies such as Jindal Steel & Power, Reliance Power, Monnet Ispat, SAIL, NTPC and Hindalco Industries. The coal blocks, owned by thirty odd companies, hold reserves of at least 6,700 million tonnes. The group of ministers looking into environment related issues of coal blocks met for the second time on April 7. As per coal ministry estimates, around Rs. 35,000 crore has been invested towards power, steel and cement plants attached to coal blocks falling in ‘no-go’ areas.
The ministry had denied mining permissions to the blocks as they were classified as ‘no-go’ areas. First stage clearance is an in-principle permission given by the environment ministry, while stage-II, or final clearance, is given after a block owner fulfills certain conditions. Among the projects that will benefit from the decision are NTPC’s Pakri Barwadih coal block with 1,600 million tonnes reserves, Reliance Power’s Chhatrasal and Sasan power projects of 4,000 mw each, and Jindal Power’s 2,400 mw Tamnar power project.
About 40% of coal reserves in India were estimated to be under dense forest cover. About 155 other coal blocks owned by companies like Tata Steel, MMTC, Essar Power, JSW Steel, Arcelor Mittal, Ultratech, Hindustan Zinc, NTPC and JSPL were awaiting first stage clearance.
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