The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) formed under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, has decided to grant environment clearance (EC) to five coal mining projects. The decision was taken based upon deliberations carried out on the basis of applications sent by the respective parties in a review meeting held last month.
Among the beneficiaries, two coal blocks earmarked under commercial mining scheme- Takli Jena Bellora in Maharashtra and Kuraloi-A North in Odisha, were recommended for approval.
In case of Takli Jena Bellora, EC was proposed for mining capacity of 1.5 million tonnes (mnt) per annum across a mine area of 936 hectares (Ha) to Aurobindo Realty Infrastructure.
On the other hand, Vedanta’s Kuraloi-A North project was recommended for grant of terms of reference with production capacity of 8 mnt/year in the project area of 965.58 Ha.
On similar lines, a request made by state-run miner-Singareni Collieries Company (SCCL) regarding expansion of mining capacity at two of its projects was approved by the EAC.
The committee has approved EC for Ramagundam opencast-III coal mine with increase in capacity from 8.16 mnt to 9.52 mnt in mine lease area of 2070.10 ha, whereas Ramagundum opencast-I project was permitted increase in capacity from 3.3 mnt to 5.3 mnt in a lease area of 923.88 Ha.
EC amendment for Manoharpur mine
In a separate development, EAC has agreed upon the modification proposed by Odisha Coal and Power Ltd. for the existing EC in case of its Manoharpur coal mine located in Odisha.
It is to be noted that the Manoharpur project was granted EC for mining capacity of 8 mnt in 2014. Thereafter, an amendment in EC was issued regrading coal transportation by road to its linked thermal plant due to non-implementation of Merry Go Round (MGR) mode through silo loading in 2019.
However, the mine operator informed that despite the commissioning of MGR network it was unable to fetch complete coal to the thermal plant due to non-functioning of ash evacuation system and that it requires to transport the excess coal by road or road-cum-rail mode to different consumers.
Based on the discussion, EAC recommended the amendment in EC by allowing the miner to transport 6 mnt coal with MGR network to the power plant, 1 mnt by road from coal block to Kanika/ACB siding and the remaining 1 mnt to other locations through road-cum-rail up to a period of 18 months.
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