Pralhad Joshi discusses environmental compliance of coal, lignite companies

Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday held a meeting to discuss the status of compliance of coal and lignite companies with environmental norms.

Joshi, who chaired the meeting of Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the coal ministry, informed the panel members that mining operations in coal, lignite mines are carried out with due regard to safety, environment protection and sustainability.

Minister of State for Coal, Mines and Railways Raosaheb Patil Danve also participated in the meeting.

Environment protection during mining activities is one of the key thrust areas of coal/lignite PSUs, which ensures that various statutory provisions prescribed in environmental rules and regulations are adhered to and appropriate environmental standards are maintained in and around mining areas, the coal ministry said in a statement.

Coal secretary A K Jain briefed the committee about creation of a Sustainable Development Cell (SDC) in the ministry to advise, mentor, plan and monitor environmental sustainability of coal mines.

He also informed the committee that the ministry and coal, lignite companies have been preparing reports, booklets and videos on the status of environmental sustainability and best environmental practices. Also, star rating of mines has been adopted to incentivise self-environmental compliances.

During the meeting, a presentation was made by Coal Joint Secretary through which it was informed that the status of environmental compliance of big mines is monitored by coal secretary as well as SDC at regular intervals.

In consultation of coal/lignite PSUs, a roadmap has been drawn for plantation, mine water utilisation, development of eco-parks, energy efficiency measures etc.

Initiatives have also been taken to explore use of LNG to reduce carbon footprint. Also, a programme for third party environmental audit of mines and ecological studies by engaging reputed institutions has been chalked out.

Coal India Ltd (CIL) also made a detailed presentation on its compliance with environmental norms in mines and submitted that coal mines are operating with various environmental permits and complying with prescribed environmental conditions and norms.

To mitigate the adverse impact of mining, coal companies are implementing various pollution control measures and adopting environment-friendly technologies such as surface miners/rippers for blast free extraction of coal/OB, First-mile connectivity (FMC) projects for minimising road transport of coal, installation of mist sprayer/fog canons, deployment of mechanical road sweepers etc.

In addition, CIL is promoting various other sustainable practices to reduce carbon footprint of mining and for the welfare of host community. CIL has planned to install 3000 mw solar plants by 2023-24, which will meet their electrical power requirement.

Subsidiaries of CIL are promoting mine tourism and developing ecological parks in and around coalfields. They are also recovering sand from the overburden for gainful utilisation of waste and supplying mine water after proper treatment to the nearby villagers for domestic as well as agricultural purpose.