A meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Coal was held here for reviewing the “Implementation of Mine closure Plans of Coal India Limited (CIL)”. Shri Piyush Goyal Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines chaired the meeting.
In his opening remarks, Shri Goyal informed the Hon’ble Members that considering the closure mines as an important activity, the Ministry has undertaken special plan for studying each coal mine for preparing its closure plan. In the plan, special emphasis has been placed on efficient usage of water for the purposes of drinking, irrigation after appropriate treatment and groundwater recharge.
On the occasion, Director( Technical ) CIL , made a detailed presentation giving highlights of achievements of CIL during 2015 -16 . The presentation also gave an overview of guidelines , major initiatives & activities being undertaken by CIL and its subsidiaries under Mine closure Plan with special focus on environment protection , land reclamation and water management . Hon’ble Members were also informed that Mine closure Plans (MCPs) are integral part of mining plans. Accordingly, Ministry had brought out detailed set of guidelines initially on 27.8.2009 and subsequently these were amended on 11.1.2012 and 7.1.2013. It was explained that Centre Mine Planning & Design Institute (CMPDI) prepares Mine Closure Plans for all CIL mines. CIL has identified 476 mines for closure and MCPs of 445 mines have been approved till 31st July,2016. As per guidelines, Rs 4387.60 crore have been deposited in escrow account by CIL .
Intervening the discussion, the Minister informed the Hon’ble Members that to further strengthen the process , CIL is further engaging Indian Council of Forestry Research & Education ( ICFRE) for carrying out various studies . CIL is signing an MoU with Forest Research Institute shortly for third party audit of progress and appropriateness of MCPs , environmental audit and forestry issues.
During discussion , all Members appreciated the efforts being undertaken by the Ministry and CIL in this direction especially third party inspection / audit . Members suggested that steps being undertaken by the Nevyeli Lignite Corporation in land reclamation & water conservation after closure of mine need to be replicated by the CIL and its subsidiaries.
Shri Goyal assured Hon’ble Members that their valuable suggestions would be adopted by the Ministry & CIL .
The meeting was attended by Dr Bharti D Shyal, Shri Hari Manjhi , Shri Kamalbhan Singh Marabi, Shri Kariya Munda, Shri Lakhan Lal Sahu , Shri Laxmi Narayan Yadav, Shri Midhun Reddy, Shri Rajesh Verma, Shri Ram Tahal Choudhary , Shri Ravindra Kumar Pandey , Shri Santosh Kumar , Shri Vijay Kumar Hansdak , Shri Vishnu Dayal Ram from Lok Sabha and Dr Anil Kumar Sahani from Rajya Sabha.
The Secretary, Coal Shri Anil Swarup , the Chairman cum Managing Director & Directors of CIL and senior officials of Ministry of Coal also attended the meeting.
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