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Power Minister, Mr Sushilkumar Shinde, said on Monday that the Environment Ministry has given its nod for a proposal involving the mining of coal from a block earmarked for a proposed 4,000-MW Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) in Orissa. The area involving the block was previously designated as a “no-go” zone by the Environment Ministry, resulting in the delays in the tendering for the project.
“The Orissa UMPP is cleared... We are hopeful of receiving the documents from the Environment Ministry soon,” Mr Shinde told reporters at the sidelines of an event. He, however, clarified that the Power Ministry is yet to receive official confirmation from the Environment Ministry on the grant of clearance for the UMPP.
Indications are that the proposal could receive conditional forest clearance for coal to be mined in blocks attached to the proposed UMPP at Bedabahal shortly.
Power Finance Corporation, the nodal agency for implementation of UMPPs in the country, has already postponed the process of inviting preliminary bids for the Orissa project till March next month. The bidding process for the project has been postponed seven times due to environmental hurdles.
The Government has so far allotted four UMPPs, of which three have been bagged by Reliance Power and one, in Gujarat, by Tata Power.
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