Coal ministry seeks PMO push for environ nods for mines

The coal ministry has requested the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to resolve the environment clearance issue for coal mines under public sector Coal India Ltd (CIL) at the earliest.

The largest mining company in the world is going for its initial public offer in October 18. The ministry fears that environment clearance hurdles may impact the CIL floatation.

“We have to resolve the issue at the earliest as we are heading for road shows where we will inform our investors about the company’s business prospects. If the PMO resolves the environment clearance issue within this month, it will help CIL’s IPO”, said a source in the ministry.

From September 6, a group of CIL officials headed by additional secretary of the ministry, Alok Perti,  will start the road show in 10 major investor destinations in Europe, US, Australia and Singapore.

The CIL issue is slated to be the biggest by any corporate in India that will raise between Rs10,000 crore and Rs12,000 crore.

The ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) had classified 44% of the mining area under CIL as a ‘no-go’ area, where no mining activity can be undertaken.

After the announcement of the company’s IPO, there have been several meetings between the ministries of environment, coal and PMO. A group of ministers headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is in charge of resolving the issue.

At a May 21 meeting, presided over by TKA Nair, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, officials of MoEF were told that due to their classification of the ‘no go’ area, 619 million tonne per annum of coal production capacity (about 412 million tonne per annum from CIL-owned areas and 207 million tonne per annum from captive blocks) was getting affected, which was not acceptable to the PMO. A major part of these no-go areas fall in the Hasdeo Arnad Coalfield.

Even after the intervention of the PMO, the MoEF has continued with its tough stance on the issue of no-go areas.