Experts have raised a red flag over the decision by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to extend the deadline for coal-based power plans to install emission control equipment.
The Ministry had earlier this month extended the timeline for installing pollution control technologies for coal-based power stations. This is the third time that the Ministry has extended the timeline for polluting power plants and experts have pointed out that the delay will have an adverse impact on air quality and public health, particularly in cities like Kolkata, which are recording high levels of air pollution.
The notification, dated September 5, 2022, extended the implementation timeline for power plants within a 10 km radius of cities with a million-plus population to December 31, 2023 from the earlier deadline of December 2022. For power plants in the 10 km radius of critically polluted areas the deadline has been extended to December 31, 2025 from the earlier December 31, 2023. For all other power plants that had an earlier timeline of December 31, 2024, the new deadline stands at December 31, 2026.
