NGT: Nod only if thermal plants meet '15 norms

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) to not grant environmental clearance for any new thermal power plant unless it complies with emission standards notified in 2015. The NGT was hearing a petition by environmental activist Sunil Dahiya pertaining to the delay in implementing the standards and the resulting pollution from thermal power plants across India.

The NGT principal bench also directed the MoEFCC to withhold environmental clearance unless the proposed plants are shown to have mechanisms in place to implement emission standards, and water consumption requirements as stipulated in the new notification, said a statement by the Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE).

Advocates Ritwick Dutta and Rahul Chowdhury of LIFE, representing the petitioner, said the MoEFCC had informed the NGT they had moved the SC seeking an extension of the deadline for implementation of the standards.