Power Min seeks more time for coal plants to install emission cutting tools

India's federal power ministry has proposed a new deadline for coal-fired power plants around New Delhi to install equipment to reduce emissions, a government official said on Friday.

If the proposal is accepted, it would pose a further challenge to authorities in India's capital New Delhi grappling with pollution that can cause lung disease and blights air quality.

The ministry has said that the power plants be given deadlines starting July 2020 and ending December 2021 to install the equipment, the government official, who did not want to be named, told Reuters.

The last deadline for installing such equipment ended on Dec. 31, 2019, with just one out of the 11 utilities in the national capital region having installed the equipment.

The utilities could not meet the emissionsstandards of December 2017, which was then extended by another 2 years.

The environment ministry will take the final call on the power ministry's proposal.

On Dec. 30 Reuters citing documents reported Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office has proposed waiving a tax on coal to help finance pollution-curbing equipment.

The official said that the finance ministry is considering waiving about $6 per ton of carbon tax on coal.