Coal India's 180 mining projects awaiting nod

New Delhi: As many as 180 proposals of Coal India (CIL) are awaiting forestry clearance from the Centre and state governments, Parliament was informed today.

"At present, 180 forestry proposals of different subsidiaries companies of CIL involving an area of 28,484.49-ha forest land are awaiting clearances at various levels," Minister of State for Coal Pratik Prakashbapu Patil said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

[caption id="attachment_256179" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Minister of State for Coal, Pratik Prakashbapu Patil. Image courtesy PIB"][/caption]

Out of 180 proposals, 131 are awaiting Stage-I (in-principle) level approval and 49 are awaiting final or Stage-II approvals, he said, adding that 70 applications are also waiting for environmental clearances.

In January, company's then chairman NC Jha had said that 168 such proposals, including 67 new projects, of the CIL are awaiting to be cleared.

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Patil also said that Coal India's initial projected production for the ongoing fiscal, estimated at 520 million tonnes, had been curtailed in the mid-term review of the current Plan due to "considerable delay" in obtaining forestry and environmental clearances and land acquisition issues.

He added that imposition of moratorium on new and expansion projects in areas having Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI) above 70, had further delayed Coal India's projects and the production target for current year was again revised to 447 MT for the ongoing fiscal.

Replying to a separate question, Patil said that coal stocks of the power companies have improved from seven days as on October last year to 10 days as on 15 March.

"The coal stocks with the power stations have also improved from 8.125 MT, equivalent to 7 days requirements as on October 31, 2011 to 12.798 MT, equivalent to 10 days requirement as on March 15," he said.

Till January, coal companies had a pit-head stock of 57.21 MT, the MoS further said.

PTI