Working to settle project related issues: Coal Ministry to PMO

New Delhi: The Coal Ministry has informed the PMO that it is making all efforts to resolve the issues related to various mining projects at the central as well as state level. [caption id=“attachment_2038989” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Getty Images[/caption] The ministry said it has also set up a portal on the lines of Project Monitoring Group to monitor the progress of mines. The government has set up an ambitious target of achieving coal output of 1.6 billion tonnes over the next five years. “Ministry of Coal is making all efforts to resolve the projects related issues with State/Central Govenrnment… We have also set up a portal on the lines of PMG for the purpose of monitoring the progress,” Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said in a letter to Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Nripendra Mishra. He also informed the Prime Minister’s Office that all the issues of coal sector projects have been uploaded in the PMG portal for monitoring. Besides, Swarup said he has written to Chief Secretaries of States – Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Odisha, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, drawing their attention to the pending issues relating to coal mining projects of coal companies with the concerned state. The problem being faced by the projects relates to land acquisition, forest clearance and environment clearance among others. Some of the projects facing problems are Batura OC (Open Cast) mine in Madhya Pradesh, Bonbahal OCP (Open Cast Project) in West Bengal, Ananta OCP in Odisha, Dipka OC project in Chhattisgarh, Manuguru OC in Telangana, Bhatadi Expansion OC project in Maharastra among others. The Coal Ministry had earlier said that it will launch an electronic platform to address all regulatory hurdles related to coal mines that would be on the pattern of Prime Minister’s Project Monitoring Group. The platform would be for resolving issues for ramping up Coal India Ltd’s production from the present level of 462 million tonnes to 1 billion tonnes over the next five years. The PMG was earlier set up to resolve specific issues holding up various projects entailing big investments and fast-tracking them. The Coal Ministry had earlier said the government was looking at various issues that would come in the way of ramping up the production both in terms of environment clearance and land acquisition. Of the 1.6 billion tonnes of the coal output that the government is targeting by 2020, 1 billion tonne would come from Coal India Ltd and rest 600 million tonnes from private sector and others. PTI