The environment ministry had two years ago set a December 2017 deadline for all of India's coal-fired power plants to meet new emission norms that would cut particulate matter by about 40 per cent and sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by over 70 per cent. Coal-fired plants account for about 196GW or nearly 60 per cent of India's installed electricity capacity. CEA chairperson Ravindra Kumar Verma said it would be misleading to claim the power sector was delaying the implementation of the new emission norms. "We've conducted a countrywide exercise to determine a reasonable timeline while ensuring continuity of power supply without blackouts or load shutdowns. But the CSE says the CEA's 2022 timeline requires most power plants "to do nothing for the next two or three years", and start installing new equipment only from 2020 onwards.

Source: The Telegraph November 16, 2017 20:37 UTC