nThe union Ministry of Coal has taken policy decisions to ensure early operationalization of coal mines and is in the process of simplifying environment clearances, stated Union Secretary of Coal Sumanta Chaudhuri here on Thursday.

The secretary was addressing a stakeholder consultation to address issues related to coal sector in the eastern states jointly organised by the Ministry of Coal, Government of India in and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

“Ministry of Coal has already taken policy decisions to ensure early operationalisation of coal mines which includes allowing sale of 25% coal in open market in case of allocation for specified end use plant, relaxation in efficiency parameters, provision of grace periods, introduction of e-CPMP, MDMS portal etc,” the union secretary said.

Ministry is also working on the policy interventions to develop a single window scheme for faster approvals of clearances from various Central/ State agencies. Ministry of Coal has started the process of auctioning  27 coal mines and allotment of 15 coal mines to Central PSU and State PSU’s, the secretary added.

The Secretary also informed that the Government of India is in the process of removing the need for Central Government’s approval before the State Government grants mining lease.

The secretary requested the state governments to explore the possibility of automaticity and simplification of granting of mining lease.

Chairman FICCI - Chhattisgarh State Council Pradeep Tandon said that the state has 16% of the total coal deposits of India and contributes over 18% to the total national production.

Tandon spoke on the need to address the availability of coal at source as well as by asking the allottee PSUs to part some coal for power plants in Chhattisgarh, as it will save them huge transportation cost and in turn provide cheap power from these plants. He also spoke about disposal of fly ash in abandoned SECL mines.