Clearance to Coal Mining Projects to be Expedited

The Government has been addressing the impediments coming in the way of taking up of coal mining projects by the coal companies. A regular interaction between Ministry of Coal (MoC) and Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is taking place to address the pending issues concerning Environmental Clearances (EC) and Forestry Clearances (FC). Similarly regular interaction with the concerned State Government is taking place to address the issues related to land acquisition and Rehabilitation & Resettlement of project affected persons. Further, Ministry of Coal is in regular dialogue with Ministry of Railways for addressing the issues related to pending rail infrastructure projects for coal evacuation in different coalfields.

Government has setup Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) to expedite decision making process for clearance of projects in the infrastructure sector. Soon after the meeting of CCI held on 20.02.2013, MoEF has accorded Environmental Clearances (EC) for 14 projects and Stage – I Forestry Clearances (FC) for 04 projects of Coal India Limited (CIL). This information was given by the Minister of State for Coal, Shri Pratik PrakashBapu Patil in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

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NCJ/RV