Coal ministry included in environment appraisal of power projects

NEW DELHI: After the environment ministry was criticised for delaying coal projects, a senior official from the latter will now be part of an environment appraisal committee for power and coal projects.

An order was issued by the ministry of environment and forests Thursday that the coal ministry's advisor (Projects) will be a special invitee to meetings of environmental appraisal for thermal power and coal mining projects.

The invitation to the senior official will be given for meetings which take up items related to "vital importance to coal sector", including issues pertaining to compliance of stipulated conditions in environmental clearances for various coal projects.

After a series of run-ins, both ministries have tried to work together to identify 'go' and 'no-go' areas for coal mining projects.

A meeting held Thursday between Minister of State for Coal Sriprakash Jaiswal and Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh decided to initiate an exercise the identify the two categories of areas.