Green panel defers clearance to NTPC's plant in Madhya Pradesh.

A high-level committee has deferred a decision on green clearance to NTPC's 2,640 MW power plant in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh in absence of mandatory firm coal linkage and other stipulations.

After detailed deliberations, the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) opined that the mandatory firm coal linkage is not available for the project as the environment clearance and forest clearance for the coal block are not available.

'As the following information was not available in the EIA/EMP report, and PP could also not provide at the time of presentation, the proposal was deferred,' the committee said in its observations.

The company has not proposed 33 per cent of the area as green belt and hence, the same needs to be done, it said.

State-owned NTPCBSE -0.29 % plans to construct the 2,640 MW plant at a cost of about Rs 18,000 crore.

The project would comprise four unit of 660 MW each. Fifty per cent of the power generated from the project will be supplied to Madhya Pradesh, NTPC had said last year.

The total land requirement for the project is 2,841 acres.

The coal requirement of 12 million tonnes per annum will be met from Banai coal mine block of Mand Raigarh in Chhattisgarh allotted to NTPC by Coal Ministry in March.

ET