BL reported that India’s coal ministry has invited applications from companies for suggesting methods to extract coal from regions where mega infrastructure projects have come up or being planned.

A senior Coal Ministry official said that "The coal ministry through CIL has sought EoIs from scientific institutes and research and development bodies by July 31st 2012 for conducting a detailed study to find methods of extracting coal buried under infrastructure projects without stowing the area with sand."

According to CIL research arm CMPDIL's notice inviting expression of interest from companies, of the large reserves of coal blocked in developed pillars, a substantial portion is sterilized due to the prescience of structures and inhabited localities on the surface. A detailed study is required to develop an effective method to liquidate coal.

The coal ministry has also written to Chief Ministers of Jharkhand, Odisha, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to take steps needed to prevent mega projects coming up in such areas with huge coal reserves, saying the dry fuel requirement for expansion of thermal power generation is very high.

Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal coal minister of India had earlier asked states not to build projects in coal bearing areas saying such a move will sterile at least 20 billion tonnes of coal.

Discreet steps are needed to ensure that coal bearing areas in the country are left unencumbered and accessible for exploitation at a future date.

Source - Business Line

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