Coal is Clean for Rural India and Dirty for Urban?

New Delhi: On July 11, 2025, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) issued a notification relaxing the 2015 mandate for Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) systems in coal-based thermal power plants (TPPs). Now:
About 79% of India’s coal-fired power plants – those located more than 10 km from major/densely polluted cities – are exempt from installing FGDs.

About 11% plants located near critically polluted or “non-attainment” cities fall under case-by-case review.
Only about 10% – plants within dense urban areas like Delhi-NCR must comply by December 2027 – an effective extension of 12 years!.

This is a health hazard for the people of India. The way the roll-back has been done based on the urban-rural divide, it begs the question – if FGDs are needed for TPPs close to Delhi-NCR (and other dense urban areas) for protection of the people living there, then are the rural people genetically immune to the pollutants? And does the air and water not flow across large swaths of our nation through interconnected air and water-sheds?

It is a known fact that Sulphur dioxide (SO2) from coal plants converts into secondary PM2.5, linked to respiratory and cardiovascular disease. SO2 accounts for 12–30% of PM2.5. An independent analysis by CREA criticised misuse of selective studies that downplay SO₂’s risks, warning that this rollback “will undermine public health”. CREA study further highlights that 462 plants (78% of units) are now fully exempt despite studies that have shown that FGDs reduce sulfate aerosol concentration by 10–20% up to 200 km away. MoEF&CC claims ambient SO2 levels are low, but this ignores their transformation into PM2.5 and the fact that monitoring stations miss downwind pollution. It is a known fact that SO2 has a very short half-life, in the gas phase with a maximum half-life of around 2 weeks, potentially in the range of hours when reacting on cloud droplets to form sulphuric acid. Both PM2.5 and sulphuric acid are extremely hazardous; the leakage of the latter, in fact, was the genesis of the now-famous MC Mehta case. Not surprisingly, the  MC Mehta case significantly influenced environmental law in India, leading to stricter regulations for hazardous industries and the development of the “polluter pays” principle, while the current roll-back does the opposite, ensuring “polluter profits” even more. 

This rollback is also economically regressive since the deferred costs are equal to a big-fat public health bill. Exempting plants from FGDs moves the health burden onto citizens, leading to higher healthcare costs, lost productivity, and reduced quality of life due to poor air. Fewer FGDs mean more premature deaths, increased hospital admissions, and more disruption in economic activity, especially among vulnerable populations.

The government has argued that FGDs are expensive (₹2.4 lakh crore nationwide) and raise CO2 emissions. But CREA and others point out CO2 increase from FGDs (~23 Mt by 2030) is marginal, about 0.9% of national emissions, especially compared to the climate costs of unchecked coal expansion. Meanwhile, the rollback may allow for more coal plants to become financially viable and so commissioned, thus locking in long-term carbon-intensive and pollution-spewing infrastructure. It has already been documented that coal-fired power plants led to 47,000 deaths in 2014, 62,000 deaths in 2017, and 78,000 deaths in 2018. If this growth has followed a linear trend, the number of deaths could be in excess of 3 lakhs in 2024. We dare the Government to place a financial value on these potentially one and a half million deaths over the last decade. Even if we take the figure of Rs. 1 crore paid to each victim of the recent Air-India plane crash in Ahmedabad, the total cost would come to about ₹15 lakh crore – 6 times more than the cost of installing FGDs nationwide.

It is important to note that India committed over US$30 billion for FGDs under the 2015 plan, and NTPC alone has already spent about US$4 billion. Now, these investments risk being undermined or rendered moot, discouraging future environmental upgrades and raising uncertainty for green-tech firms. This rollback could further open doors to regulatory unravelling. It is part of a disturbing trend: easing environmental norms under the guise of “ease of business”. Such rollbacks send a clear signal that financial gains for a few trump public welfare, chilling private sector confidence in green investments.

In an investigative piece, the Reporters Collective revealed, with documentary evidence, that corporates like Adani, Reliance, Jindal and others lobbied the union government against these pollution norms, both as individuals and as part of the Association of Power Producers. So the current rollback could also be seen as a thank-you gift from the government to these corporates for the support they received from them during the general elections 2024, through electoral bonds and otherwise. Media reports indicate that due to this change in rules, Adani will save ₹16,000 crores and Jindal ₹4,500. The success of the corporate lobby is in complete contrast to the implementation of emission norms in the automobile industry, which has been done in phases since the year 2000 without a single extension. In fact, the union government decided to leapfrog from BS IV to BS VI effective from 1 April 2020 in the entire country, skipping BS V, and the industry supported this move. This needed heavy investment at the refineries to improve the quality of fuel, as well as automotive design and manufacturing, both resulting in higher costs for the consumers, but much cleaner emissions. The liquid fuels, petrol and diesel, for the automobiles continue to be taxed between 60 to 75%, in line with the commitments made at the Paris Agreement. Clearly, the coal industry is being held to a completely different standard.

The bottom line is that the rollback of FGD rules is a shortsighted, unhealthy, and economically flawed move. It sacrifices Indian lives by boosting particulate air pollution with long-term consequences, while giving the illusion of cost savings. In reality, those savings will be eroded by skyrocketing health expenditure, lost lives and productivity, and the costs of retroactive cleanup, besides stalling India’s clean-energy trajectory.

We therefore demand that the Union Government not only reinstate, but fast-track FGD installation across all coal-fired plants, not just urban ones. Further, the government should mandate CO₂and PM2.5 accounting when evaluating the cost impacts of pollution-control technology. And align with the National Clean Air Programme and global climate goals by making clean-air protection non-negotiable.

This rollback trades immediate industrial cost relief for chronic public health degradation, economic leakage, and a derailed transition to cleaner energy. It’s time to pivot back toward strict, science-driven pollution standards.

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