GoM on coal likely to meet on Aug 2

The Group of Ministers on coal are likely to meet on August 2 to discuss six coal projects, which have been stalled due to pending environmental approvals, among others.

"The meeting of the GoM on coal, which was postponed last time due to changes in the portfolios will now take place on August 2," a source in the Coal Ministry said.

In the reshuffle, former Environment minister Jairam Ramesh was replaced by Jayanthi Natrajan, while Salman Khurshid was given Law portfolio.

In the meeting six coal projects allotted to firms like ADAG, Essar and the Aditya Birla Group for fuelling their thermal power plants, which have been stalled due to pending environmental approvals, are likely to come up for deliberation, sources said.

The coal blocks that are expected to be discussed are the Mahan and Chhatrasal blocks in Madhya Pradesh, Morga-II and Parsa in Chhattisgarh and Ashok Karkata and Chakla in Jharkhand, they said.

The issue of NTPC's 1,980-MW thermal power project in Jharkhand is also expected to come up for consideration in the meeting.

Due to shortage of time, the issue of the North Karanpura STPP (Super Thermal Power Project) could not be discussed in the last meeting of the GoM held in June.

The 12-member GoM was constituted in February this year to sort out issues between ministries on the environmental norms affecting projects, especially in the coal sector.

The GoM has met three times as of now but could not reach any consensus.

The Ministry of Environment and Forest in 2009 had categorised 203 coal blocks as 'no go' mining zones. The output from these 203 blocks can generate around 1.3 lakh MW of power per annum as per the estimates of the Coal Ministry.

The Coal Ministry has been demanding permission to mine at least 90% of these 203 blocks to meet the ever-widening demand-supply gap for the dry fuel. The shortage of coal is likely to reach 200 million tonne by 2016-17.