CIL BCCL mine closure notice stayed

Sunday, 28 Aug 2011

The Jharkhand High Court on Thursday stayed the closure notice issued by the Jharkhand pollution control board to 22 coal mines under Bharat Coking Coal Ltd.

According to company sources, the stay order was issued based on a petition filed by BCCL a wholly owned subsidiary of CIL challenging the state panel’s decision.

The mines including both opencast and underground produce nearly 15 million tonne coal, mostly coking coal, annually. The closure, if implemented, should impact the steel sector, particularly the Union government controlled Steel Authority of India Ltd.

In an order issued earlier this month the pollution control board accused BCCL for running the mines without proper forest and environment clearance.

CIL sources, however said that the mines were developed by private operators (before nationalization in mid 1970’s) without much regard to environment and forest regulations in today’s context.

To regularize the issue, the coal major, in consultation with the Union ministry of environment and forests had sought requisite environmental clearance for the entire cluster of 22 mines. An official told Business Line that “While the clearance is due, the state pollution control board had issued a closure order.”

(sourced from BL)

HC orders status quo on closure of BCCL mines

Fri,Aug 26, 2011
Manohar LalManohar Lal, TNN

RANCHI: Giving an immediate relief to the Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), the Jharkhand high court on Thursday ordered a status quo on the closure of as many as 14 operational mines as ordered by the state pollution control board till August 30.

BCCL had moved the high court challenging the order of state pollution control board issued last week. The coal mining giant has said in its petition that the order of the state pollution board was too harsh and it could affect the companies run on the coal mined from this area.

The hearing on the petition was taken up in the court of Justice Poonam Srivastava. The counsel for BCCL said though the mines are not closed as the copy of the order has not been received by the company, the order of pollution control board does not comply with the pollution law of the state.

Contesting the arguments, advocate-general Anil Kumar Sinha said the order was very much in accordance with the law and these mines were run without prior permission from the state government.

Sinha said the company despite several notices slapped by the state pollution control board was neither replying nor abiding by the norms laid by the pollution control board. After hearing the arguments, the court asked the state government to file a counter affidavit on the petition of BCCL.

The court also ordered maintaining a status quo on as many as 22 operational mines of the company and adjourned the hearing till Tuesday.

The state pollution control board has ordered closure of mines of the company for not following green norms last week.

The underground and open cast mines which were ordered for closure are Phularitarh, Muraidih, Shatabdi, Govindpur, Gajlitarh, Mudidih, Tetulmari, Senara, Bansjora, Gondudih Khas, Khushanda, Ena, Kujama, Ginagarha, Bahra South, Gopalichak, Murlidih, Dahibari and Bahra North.

BCCL, a Coal India Ltd subsidiary, has as many as 69 coal mines in the state and made major technological changes to enhance production, which according to the state pollution control board had violated green norms.

(sourced TOI)

Coal India Limited BCCL to open 20 million tonnes UG coal mine in Jharkhand

Sunday, 23 Jan 2011

Coal India Ltd will make operational a new underground mine having a reserve of 20 million tonnes in Jharkhand.
A source in Coal India requesting anonymity told PTI that "We are going to open a new underground mine at Muraidih near Dhanbad in Jharkhand which is likely to begin production within three years.”
The source added that "The tender was finalized a month back.”
The source added that "Out of the five parties that had applied for the tender, three were qualified.”
He added that "A Chinese firm CME and an Indian firm emerged as L1 bidder.”
The tender for the development and subsequent production from the underground mine was floated by Bharat Coking Coal Ltd a wholly owned subsidiary of Coal India Limited.
The mine is estimated to have an annual production capacity of 2million tonnes.
Coal India is also planning to extract coal from its abandoned mines and will float tenders for 18 such mines.
The 18 abandoned underground mines are owned by three of its subsidiaries in partnership with private players.
Underground mining would be revived in six abandoned mines of Eastern Coalfields, eight of BCCL, and four belonging to Central Coalfields.
(Sourced from ET)