The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) in India has accorded environment clearance (EC) to the capacity expansion plan of Amera open cast coal project of state owned coal miner, South-Eastern Collieris Ltd (SCCL) from 1 MnT pa to 2 MnT pa in Sarguja district of Chhattisgarh.
The proposal was considered in several Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) meetings held during Jun-Dec’15. In the EAC meeting held during 30 Nov-1 Dec’15, the panel recommended the project for grant of EC. The MoEF while accepting the recommendation has accorded environmental clearance to coal mining project on 20 Jan’16.
Expansion of capacity is crucial for the project as it has coal linkages to various thermal power plants. The Indian Bureau of Mines has already approved the mining plan of the project. On the other hand, to reduce the transportation distance from mine to railway siding, SECL has proposed a new railway siding namely Pendrakhi Siding near the area under the Bilaspur Railway Division.
EAC to consider several coal mining proposals on 5 Feb’16
The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Union Environment and Forest Ministry will consider several coal mining proposals for grant of environment clearance on 5 Feb’16. The proposals include the capacity expansion plan of Kaniha opencast project of MCL (Odisha ) from the existing 10 MnT pa to 14 MnT pa.
Another important coal mining project the EAC will consider is the coal cluster project of Eastern Coalfields Ltd in Raniganj, West Bengal. The coal cluster consists of 11 mines with combined peak production capacity of 10.90 MnT pa. The project proponent has applied for amendment in environment clearance.
Apart from these two, several other projects including production expansion proposal of Sethia opencast coal mines (Maharashtra) of Western Coalfields Ltd, Adasa Coal mines in Maharashtra for 1.85 MnT pa capacity, Kakatiya Coal mines of Singreni Coalliery Ltd (peak production capacity of 1.5 MnT pa) in Telangana.
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