Healing the planet: During "coal rush", India removes global warming hero Jairam Ramesh from the environment ministry

Andhra Pradesh at the forefront of Indian 'coal rush' | Environment | guardian.co.uk

A single Indian state is to build a new fleet of coal-power stations that could make it one of the world's top 20 emitters of carbon emissions – on a par with countries such as Spain or Poland.
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Growing frustration at the government's decison to block the expansion of coal mines in some of India's most heavily polluted coalfield areas is thought to have contributed to this week's removal of Jairam Ramesh from the environment ministry.

Ramesh was widely blamed by the coal and power ministries for delaying mine expansion approvals and for India not meeting its coal production targets. Ramesh relaxed rules for coal developers under intense pressure in the days before he was moved, but bans on new mining in several hundred blocks with a potential of over 600m tonnes of coal remain.

Separately this week, international watchdog groups also complained that Indian coal companies were trying to earn hundreds of millions of carbon credits from the coal expansion. The Krishnapatnam plant has been registered with the UN clean development mechanism (CDM) and, if approved, could generate 3.5m carbon credits a year.