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A Lethargic Government, Can Manmohan Singh Fix It?
By siliconindia
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Thursday, 16 February 2012, 00:53 IST |
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4) Fall in Coal Production:
The Coal Ministry has been constantly been pointing out the environment ministries for the fall in coal production. The policies and directives of the environment ministry is the cause of the downfall. A short fall in was projected at 142 million tonnes in 2011-12 and an import of 114 million tonnes of coal was required to meet this shortfall . The Coal Ministry has cited "environmental restrictions" as the main reason for the downward revision of production targets, from 680 million tonnes to 554 million tonnes, in 2011 as reported by ET. The coal issue is taking a serious turn day by day as one day the coal price is affected and the other day its availability is at stake. The PM's office have found that ramping up production is very important and that can be attained by expansion projects of Coal India.
"Our 168 projects are pending environment and forest clearances at the Centre and State levels. Sixty-seven of these projects are greenfield and we are unable to make any investment in these. Remaining are ongoing expansion schemes, which too have been stalled," CIL chairman N C Jha had said.
As per the stipulated procedure, forest clearances should be granted within 300 days. However, as per an assessment by the company, the process is taking as long as six years in some cases as reported by TOI.
