The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEF&CC) on December 31, 2021 has issued a draft notification to supersede an older notification related to restricting the excavation of top soil for manufacturing of bricks and promoting the utilisation of fly ash in the manufacturing of building materials and in construction activity within a specified radius of three hundred kilometres from the coal or lignite based thermal power plants. The ash generated from coal or lignite based thermal power plants shall be utilised only for the following eco-friendly purposes, namely: (i) Fly ash based products viz. bricks, blocks, tiles, fibre cement sheets, pipes, boards, panels; (ii) Cement manufacturing, ready mix concrete; (iii) Construction of road and fly over embankment, Ash and Geo-polymer based construction material; (iv) Construction of dam; (v) Filling up of low lying area; (vi) Filling of mine voids; (vii) Manufacturing of sintered or cold bonded ash aggregate; (viii) Agriculture in a controlled manner based on soil testing; (ix) Construction of shoreline protection structures in coastal districts; (x) Export of ash to other countries; (xi) Any other eco-friendly purpose as notified from time to time.
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