CAG pulls up NLC India for operating mine without valid environmental clearance

New Delhi: The government auditor Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has pulled up NLC India for operating one of its mines without a valid environmental clearance.

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In its report, CAG said that NLC India operated its Mine-II without a valid Environmental Clearance (EC) due to the company's delay in seeking EC revalidation.

The audit highlighted that the delay in seeking EC revalidation post a Supreme Court order in August 2017 and a Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) notification in April 2018 resulted in unauthorised operations at the mine.

The Audit Report, which contains results of the Performance Audit on ‘Operational Performance of NLC India Ltd’ covering the period from 2017-18 to 2022-23, was laid on the table of the Rajya Sabha on Monday and on the table of the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The lack of coordination between the Corporate Environment Cell and the Mine-II Planning Department led to the lapse, restricting NLC India from production and sale of minor minerals, according to the CAG report.

NLC India Ltd, under the coal ministry, operates major open-cast lignite mines and pit-head thermal power stations, primarily at Neyveli, Tamil Nadu and Barsingsar, Rajasthan.

As of March 2023, lignite mining capacity and power generation capacity of NLC India were 27.10 MTPA and 3,640 MW, respectively.

Audit included assessment of lignite production of three lignite mines at Neyveli viz. Mine-I, Mine-IA and Mine-II and review of the operational performance of thermal power station-I (TPS) expansion, TPS-II and TPS-II expansion located at Neyveli.

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