SECL seeks 112.38 HA forest diversion for Gevra OCM

11 December 2017

The South Eastern Coalfield Ltd (SECL) has sought diversion of 112.38 Ha of Revenue Forest Land for Coal Mining at its Gevra Open Cast Mine (OCM) in Chhattisgarh, officials informed.

The total period for which the forest land is proposed to be diverted is 30 years, officials informed.

Notably, SECL is targetting total coal production of 250 million tonnes (MT)  from its underground and open cast mines by 2019-20, officials stated.

The company recorded coal production (provisional) of 12.10 million tonnes (MT) against target of 11.70 MT as on February 2016, Coal India Ltd had informed the Bombay Stock Exchange in its filing earlier.

Notably, the Coal India Ltd is targetting production of 1 billion tonnes of coal by 2020. Wagon availability will be a key factor for achieving this target , officials stated.

The Central Government has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding each with the states of Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh for critical coal connectivity projects to improve transportation of coal, officials informed.

The company has recorded coal production of 83.77 millions tonnes (MT) against a target of 90.37 (MT) between April to November 2016, they informed.

It has also commenced the process for setting up the 5.0 MTPA Baroud Coal Washery in Raigarh district of the State, officials informed.

The Washery will be set up on Build-Operate-Maintain (BOM) basis.

It may be recalled that SECL will provide the capital funding for setting up of the  Washery and also other infrastructural facilities like land, water, power etc.

Notably, the Central Government  decided to transport coal above G10 level only after being washed from October 1, 2017. The decision is taken to tackle the quality issue of the coal produced.

In order to meet the rising demand, Coal India Ltd has been setting up 15 new washeries with a total capacity of 112.6 million tonnes per annum. Out of these washeries, six are Coking Coal washeries with total capacity of 18.6 million tonnes per annum and nine Non-Coking washeries of 94.0 million tonnes per annum. Apart from these, 3 washeries of 11.6 million tonnes per annum are under construction, officials stated.

Notably, CIL has decided to set up washeries in its various subsidiaries to reduce the quantity of ash and other not useful component from coal so as to make it competitive in comparison to imported coal across the country.

Mineral-rich Chhattisgarh with sizeable number of coal mining blocks could be a natural gainer in the recommendations made by a Study Group constituted by the Central Government to revise the coal royalty rates.

The Study Group had submitted its report to the Union Ministry of Coal recently for consideration, official sources informed.

It may be recalled that the Chhattisgarh Government had sent a proposal to the Union Coal Ministry last year for increasing the rate of coal royalty from existing 14 % to 30 %, officials informed.

Chhattisgarh is among seven states where mineral blocks have been auctioned resulting in total additional revenue of Rs 47,551 crores to the Central Government as on November 2016.

The other states where the mineral blocks were auctioned were Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha and  Jharkhand, the Central Government has informed.

Chhattisgarh has collected Rs 712.04 crores under ‘District Mineral Foundations’ (DMFs) from all the 27 districts of the State where the Foundation had been established, the Central Government has informed.

Notably, the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act, 1957) was amended through the MMDR Amendment Act, 2015. One of the amendment provisions relates to introduction of section 9B which provides for the establishment of District Mineral Foundation (DMF) in any district affected by mining related operations.

The objective of the DMF is to work for the interest and benefit of persons, and areas affected by mining related operations.

The Union Ministry of Mines has also commenced the process for pilot launch of Mining Surveillance System (MSS) for keeping vigil on illegal mining of even minor minerals in Chhattisgarh besides two other states, officials informed.

Source: Daily Pioneer