Restoration of Mined Out Areas
Mine Closure Plan is mandatory as per the provisions of Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, 1957 [MMDR] and for obtaining approval for Environment Management Plans under the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification (EIA) of September 2006 of Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF). Mine Closure Plan (MCP) is an integral part of a coal mining project and to be implemented progressively as well as at the closure of a mine or exhaustion of its reserves. As per the guidelines of Ministry of Coal all coal mine owners have to deposit specified amount depending on the mining lease area in an Escrow Account with Coal Controller Organisation and the amount will be released in parts five years before the final closure of the mine and depending on the satisfactory progress of the reclamation of mined out areas. This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Coal and Statistics and Programme Implementations, Shri Sriprakash Jaiswal in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
He said that coal companies are required to submit compliance report every six monthly to MoEF and State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) of respective states regarding the conditions laid in the Environmental Clearance (EC) and thus these authorities regularly monitor the compliances including reclamation. Further Coal India Limited (CIL) monitors the land reclamation work through state of the art satellite surveillance program through CMPDIL.
No formal complaints have been received in regard to non-implementation of Mine Closure Plan, the minister said.
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