CoalMin plans to link mining plan portal with PARIVESH website

The coal ministry plans to link the mining plan portal with Parivesh website, a top official said on Tuesday.

PARIVESH is a single-window hub for online submission, monitoring, and management of proposals submitted to the Environment Ministry by project proponents to seek various types of clearances.

"To take environment clearance there is PARIVESH portal. We are linking our mining plan portal with PARIVESH portal. From one portal everyone can see, (be) monitored," Coal Secretary Anil Kumar Jain said during stakeholders consultation on auction of coal mines for commercial mining organised by Ficci.

He said that the government has taken steps for the ease of doing business in the coal sector. The system for seeking environment and forest clearances for coal mines has improved, he added.

"So much of improvements has been made. To seek environment clearance (EC) (for a mine) 300-250 days were taken. A year back it came down to 110 days. Now they (environment ministry) have made it to 90 days," he explained.

For commercial mining many relaxations have been in the bidding terms, Jain said adding "everything has been thought very minutely. Everything has been very systematically sorted out."

He said if desired the government may go for an investment of ₹50,000 crore in eastern part of the country in the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha to ramp up coal evacuation.

Last month, the government launched the auction process for 41 coal blocks for commercial mining, a move that opens India's coal sector for private players, and termed it a major step in the direction of India achieving self-reliance.