The Centre on Wednesday said the government is planning to simplify the green clearances required for the quick operationalisation of mining projects, including coal.
It assumes significance as mining projects in various states face delays in production due to lack of approvals such as forest and environment clearance.
“(With regard to) EC (environment clearance) and FC (forest clearance), we are actually trying to do something with the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF). I think some simplification is going to be done.
“The secretary MoEF...Told us in a meeting that EC, FC norms are of course friendlier so that we will able to have operation in a quicker way,” Coal Additional Secretary M Nagaraju said.
He was speaking during the Virtual Chhattisgarh Mining Summit organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The additional secretary also stressed that the state government should ensure that the mines that are allotted are operationalised at the earliest by hand-holding the allottees and holding regular meetings, among others.
“Expect these two clearances (EC and FC), rest of clearances come from the state government. In fact, for EC and FC, a lot depends on the efficiency of the state government’s forest department.
