SINGLE WINDOW CLEARANCE PORTAL "EMPOWER IAS"

 

 

In news:

• Ministry of Coal launched Single Window Clearance Portal, a unified platform that facilitates grant of clearances and approvals required for starting a coal mine in India.

 

Background:

• Currently, about 19 major approval or clearances are required to be obtained before starting a coal mine in the country.
• Some of them include approval of Mining Plan and Mine Closure Plan, Grant of Mining Lease, Environment and Forest Clearances, Wild Life Clearance, Clearances related to Safety, Environment, Rehabilitation of project affected families, welfare of workers, etc.
• These approvals or clearances are granted either by central or state governments.
• In the absence of a unified platform for grant of clearances/approvals for starting of a coal mine, the project proponents are required to approach different administrative ministries and government departments separately to apply for the requisite clearances leading to delay in operationalization of coal mines.

 

About:

• Single Window Clearance Portal is in the spirit of Minimum Government and Maximum Governance. It would be a milestone for Ease of Doing Business in the Indian Coal Sector.
• Presently, about 19 major approval or clearances are required to be obtained before starting a coal mine in the country.
• The Portal will map not only the relevant application formats, but also process flow for grant of approval or clearances.

 

 

Why Single-window Clearance Portal in Coal Sector is needed?

• In the absence of unified platform for grant of clearances, the companies were required to approach different departments and leading to delay in operationalization of the coal mines.
• The industry experts said that the sector has long sought a single window clearance system to help with quicker operationalisation, as obtaining the requisite clearances was taking over 2-3 years for successful bidders in many cases.
• The expert added that some coal blocks auctioned as far back as 2015 has still not been operationalised due to delays in obtaining required clearances.
• The expert noted that the Parivesh mechanism for forest and environment related clearances would likely be merged into the single window clearance mechanism to help with the operationalisation of the coals blocks that are set to be auctioned in the upcoming auctions.
• The Single Window Clearance Portal is in the spirit of Minimum Government and Maximum Governance and it would be a milestone for Ease of Doing Business in the Indian Coal Sector.

 

Recent Initiatives in Coal Sector:

As a part of Atmanirbhar Abhiyaan:

• Commercial mining of coal allowed, with 50 blocks to be offered to the private sector.
• Entry norms will be liberalised as it has done away with the regulation requiring power plants to use “washed” coal.
• Coal blocks to be offered to private companies on revenue sharing basis in place of fixed cost.
• Coal gasification/liquefaction to be incentivised through rebate in revenue share.
• Coal bed methane (CBM) extraction rights to be auctioned from Coal India’s coal mines.
• UTTAM (Unlocking Transparency by Third Party Assessment of Mined Coal): In April 2018, the Ministry of Coal launched UTTAM Application for coal quality monitoring.
• Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala (Coal) Transparently in India (SHAKTI): Launched in May 2017, for allocation of future coal linkages in a transparent manner for the power sector.

 

 

Important Info :

• Rs 6,500 crore per year and will also create more than 70,000 jobs. The portal was launched in an event organized in New Delhi to execute agreements with successful bidders of India’s first ever commercial coal mine auctions.
• Recently, 19 successful bidders were allotted mines under the country's first commercial coal mining auction. This will give the states an estimated revenue of about Rs 6,500 crore per year and will also create more than 70,000 jobs.