The Ministry for Environment and Forests today clarified that it is not responsible for power outages or any energy shortage in the country. In statement issued in New Delhi, the Ministry denied media reports that main reasons for the failure of the power grids are lack of environmental clearance to power projects and said that these reports are factually incorrect.

It said that in the past 5 years, up to 2011, the Environment ministry has granted environmental clearance to 210,000 Mega Watt power which is 60,000 Mega Watt more than has been proposed until 2017. It said, in most cases, including coal and thermal power projects, clearances given by the Environment Ministry far exceed targets and even capacity projected for the future.