New Delhi, February 11 The government's auditor, CAG, has criticized NLC India for operating one of its mines without valid environmental clearance.
In its report, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) stated 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 following a Supreme Court order in August 2017 and a notification from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in April 2018 resulted in unauthorized operations at the mine.
The Audit Report, which contains the results of the Performance Audit on 'Operational Performance of NLC India Ltd', covering the period from 2017-18 to 2022-23, was presented to the Rajya Sabha on Monday and to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
According to the CAG report, the lack of coordination between the Corporate Environment Cell and the Mine-II Planning Department led to the lapse, restricting NLC India from producing and selling minor minerals.
NLC India Ltd, under the coal ministry, operates major open-pit lignite mines and pit-head thermal power stations, primarily at Neyveli, Tamil Nadu, and Barsingsar, Rajasthan.
As of March 2023, the lignite mining capacity and power generation capacity of NLC India were 27.10 MTPA and 3,640 MW, respectively.
The audit included an assessment of lignite production from three lignite mines at Neyveli, namely Mine-I, Mine-IA, and Mine-II, as well as a review of the operational performance of Thermal Power Station-I (TPS) expansion, TPS-II, and TPS-II expansion located at Neyveli.
