The Prime Minister’s Office wants the Coal Ministry to examine whether an ‘empowered body’ similar to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for the sector is feasible.

This comes close on the heels of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) pulling up the Government for not having a single window clearance mechanism for the coal sector.

“The issue has come up for internal discussions within the Coal Ministry. A formal proposal will be put up shortly after discussions with other stakeholders. It will be discussed with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in the next meeting,” said a Coal Ministry official.

Pulok Chatterjee, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, is expected to take up the issue when he meets Coal Secretary S.K. Srivastava; Power Secretary P. Uma Shankar; and Coal India Chairman and Managing Director S. Narsing Rao on October 5.

CAG in its report on allocation of coal blocks and augmentation of coal production said that there was a need to constitute an empowered group along the lines of the FIPB.

This would work as a single window mechanism with representatives from nodal ministries and States to grant the necessary clearances such as mining lease, plan, forest clearance, environment management plan and land acquisition. This would accelerate the procedures for commencement of production, the auditor had said.

In addition, the need for single window clearance was also pointed out by global investors when Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal met them at a road show organised by IDFC in Singapore and Hong Kong in August.

Minister of State for Coal Pratik Prakashbapu Patil had informed Rajya Sabha during its last session that coal production was adversely affected due to delays in obtaining environmental and forestry clearances, land acquisition and related rehabilitation problems.

The FIPB offers single window clearance for FDI proposals, which are not allowed access through the automatic route.

> siddhartha.s@thehindu.co.in

Related Topics