Reliance Power Ltd and Essar Power Ltd will have to wait for some more time to secure clearances for coal blocks in Chhattrasal and Mahan respectively in Madhya Pradesh, allocated for their ultra mega projects. This is because the Group of Ministers headed by the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, on Thursday agreed to the proposal of the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) to send an expert team to reassess the forest cover loss in these blocks, located in the biodiversity-rich areas of Madhya Pradesh. The MoEF team is expected to submit the report to the ministerial panel in about 10 days, after which the GoM is expected to meet again.
Chattrasal and Mahan are among the five blocks allocated to the ultra mega power projects awaiting green clearances. The Mahan block was jointly allocated to Essar and Hindalco Industries to fuel their power projects. The other blocks Morga II and Ashoka, allocated to Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation and Essar also came up for discussion, but no decision was taken, sources said.
The power producers have been seeking green clearance on a priority basis for these blocks, stating that delays would not only push back the development of power projects, but also force them to buy coal from alternative and costlier sources.
NTPC Karanpura to Stay
In a kind of compromise worked out between the Power and Coal Ministries, the GoM has decided that NTPC's 1980 megawatt power project in North Karanpura will come up in the same area, but in a different location, where coal reserves are at greater depth. The Coal Ministry wanted the project shifted from the North Karanpura, a coal-bearing area with estimated reserves of 6 billion tonnes. The panel has also agreed to fast-track clearance for several of Coal India Ltd's projects, sources said.