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Recently, the Union Minister of Coal highlighted various steps taken by the government to achieve the target of augmentation of coal production capacity
Various steps were taken by the government
The government has taken the following steps to achieve the target of augmentation of coal production capacity:
- Single Window Clearance System has been launched:
- Guidelines for procedure and approval of the mining plan have been simplified.
- Auctioning of coal mines for the commercial sale of coal started.
- Regular review and monitoring of allocated coal mines in the past.
- Holding of Monitoring Committee meetings headed by Secretary (Coal) and concerned Chief Secretary of the state for early operationalization of coal mines allocated.
- Improving evacuation efficiency & capacity and construction of new railway lines.
- Establishment of new washeries to enhance clean coal.
Initiatives of Coal India Limited
In addition to the above, Coal India Limited has taken the following specific steps:
- Capacity addition through approval of new & expansion PRs.
- Capacity addition through special dispensation in EC under clause 6(2) of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) 2006.
- Enhancing capacity through marginal schemes and Open Cast(OC) patches.
- Capacity augmentation through the deployment of Mine Developer and Operator(MDO).
- Use of state-of-art technology in Open Cast(OC) mines
- Use of Mass Production Technology (MPT) in Underground mines wherever feasible.
- All-out efforts are being made at all levels for overcoming constraints like possession of non-forest land, diversion of forest land, and other statutory clearances.
| Single window clearance portal for Coal in India The Union government on January 11 announced a new online single window clearance portal for the coal sector to speed up the operationalization of coal mines. What is a single-window clearance portal? A single window clearance portal is aimed at allowing successful bidders for coal blocks to be able to obtain all required clearances, including environmental and forest clearances, from a single portal with progress monitoring, instead of having to go to multiple authorities. The portal should allow successful bidders to operationalize coal mines more quickly. The expert noted that the Parivesh mechanism for forest and environment-related clearances would likely be merged into the single window clearance mechanism which is expected to help with the operationalization of the coals blocks that are set to be auctioned in the upcoming auctions. Current status: Presently, about 19 major approvals or clearances are required before starting the coal mine in the country. In the absence of a unified platform for grant of clearances, companies were required to approach different departments, leading to delay in the operationalization of the coal mines |
