Prolonging the agony of corporate bigwigs like Kumarmangalam Birla, Shashi Ruia and Anil Ambani, a ministerial panel on Thursday referred the two coal blocks - Mahan and Chhatrasal to a sub committ

The government on Thursday decided to relocate the Rs 10,000-crore Karanpura power plant, being set up in Jharkhand by NTPC Ltd, and laid the blueprint for faster environment clearance for two coal blocks of private power producers.

The decisions were taken by a 12-member Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The blocks, Mahan and Chhatrasal, had been hanging fire for the past two years as they fell under the “no-go” regions demarcated by the environment ministry when it was headed by Jairam Ramesh.

New Delhi Amid the power sector facing acute fuel shortage, the coal ministry on Tuesday said that it may divert a portion of the fuel under e-auction quota to power producers, besides resorting to imports to meet the crisis.

‘‘We will divert coal under e-auction quota (to power producers), increase evacuation and import,’’ coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said on the sidelines of a function here.

Bowing to a long-pending demand of the mineral-rich states, the coal ministry has sought the Union Cabinet’s approval to implement a new ad-valorem regime for collecting royalty of coal and lignite

Experts believe approach would widen demand-supply gap rather than solving crisis.

Environment hurdles would make this impossible, say experts

The world’s largest coal producer, Coal India Ltd (CIL), is in a spot of bother. In order to meet the directive from the Prime Minister’s Office to ensure supply for 20 years to power plants of 50,000 mega watt (Mw) that would be commissioned by March 2015, the firm has to produce an additional 220 million tonnes (MT) of coal

Jayalalithaa reverses DMK regime’s decision on the 1,600-megawatt project

Reversing the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government's decision on the 1,600-megawatt (MW) Udangudi super critical thermal power project, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Friday announced that her government would implement it as a State sector project, ensuring the availability of the entire power generated to the State.

With Tamil Nadu reeling under acute power shortage, the Chief Minister, Ms J.