Forest diversion cases apply to 55 out of 59 working mines in state; these 55 lessees have achieved only partial diversion of their leasehold area

Renewal of mining leases in Odisha is now fraught with a tough challenge following issue of new guidelines by Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF), making it compulsory for miners to obtain full forest diversion.

Few issues in Delhi whip people into as much of a frenzy as Jindal's Okhla-based waste-to-energy plant.

Trouble for big fish Jindal Steel, NTPC, Tata Steel, SAIL

The Government is likely to issue show-cause notices to allocatees of 32 captive coal blocks, including Jindal Steel and Power, NTPC, Tata Steel and SAIL, for failing to develop the blocks on time.

More than 50 tribal farmers, including women, were detained for over six hours on Tuesday at the Sundarpahari police station in Godda, a kilometre from the venue where President Pranab Mukherjee laid the foundation for a thermal power plant to be set up by Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL).

Farmers from 11 villages in Nimpaniya and Goiarijor blocks said they had gathered in Sundarpahari to oppose land acquisition by the JSPL. At 10 a.m. they were detained by the police and kept in the station premises till evening.

As per the information given by the minister of state for coal, Pratik Prakash Bapu Patil in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Monday, the coal blocks located in Madhya Pradesh allocated to private companies during the last five years.

They include Mideast Intergrated Steels, Birla Corporation, Kamal Sponge Steel & Power, Revati Cement, Jindal Steel & Power and Monnet Ispat & Energy.
He said that the government of Madhya Pradesh had recommended 14 companies for seven coal blocks located in the state during the said period.

The inter-ministerial committee on ore linkage to industries within the State on a sustainable manner will request the State Government for more time to submit its report.

Ministries of coal & power have sided with PSU power utilities

The much-touted plan to optimally distribute the higher cost of imported coal among power producers via a price-pooling mechanism with cheaper domestic coal may go haywire. While a host of large upcoming private power projects would have increased their viability under the proposed regime, two key administrative ministries — those of power and coal — have virtually sided with public-sector power utilities, who fear losing their current cost advantage if price-pooling is implemented.

Allocates need to furnish status of end-use plants

The Odisha steel & mines department will process prospecting license (PL) and mining lease (ML) applications of coal block allocatees according to a checklist. The checklist approved by the department makes it mandatory for the allocatees to furnish status of end-use plants linked to coal blocks.
Information on the end-use project of the coal block should include capacity of the thermal or captive power plant (CPP) and up-to-date status of the plant regardless of whether it is located within the state or outside.

The National Green Tribunal has sought the response of Jindal Steel and five other steel plants located in Ghaziabad after the UP Pollution Control Board informed the tribunal that they are "highly

Nearly 323 mining lease applications are pending for renewal

The state steel & mines department is set to miss the deadline stipulated by the Odisha High Court (HC) for disposing off pending applications for mine lease renewal. In an interim order delivered on December 21 last year, the HC had instructed the state government to dispose off all applications for renewal of mining leases within three months.