Essar-Hindalco, Reliance Power coal blocks get Ministers' panel’s nod with riders

In a positive development for Essar Power, Hindalco and Reliance Power, the Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, has okayed the mining of Chhatrasal, Mahan blocks, and has referred the matter to Cabinet, albeit with riders. The clearances are subject to conditions including obligatory spending of 5% of the total project cost towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and modifying their mining plan by excluding around 100 hectares of good quality forest area from the mining lease.

The Mahan coal block located at Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh was awarded Essar Power-Hindalco’s JV for captive use of the planned 1,200 MW and 900 MW projects, respectively. Similarly, the Chhatrasal coal block in Madhya Pradesh was granted to Reliance Power for sourcing fuel for its Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP). Together, these two blocks will boost a power capacity of over 10,000 mw. However, both the plants were support to commence production from last year, but the unwarranted delay in clearance of the block hindered the progress of this development.

Apart from this, the panel mandated that the companies would have to compensate for the loss of good quality forests, and would have to do compulsory afforestation in the mining area besides having disbursed funds for restoring degraded forests.