New Delhi, Apr 13 (IANS): With the objective of utilising mined out/practically unsuitable lands and increasing investment and job creation in coal sector, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the policy for using such land for development/setting-up of infrastructure relating to coal and energy, an official statement said.
The policy comes under The Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition & Development) Act, which provides for acquisition of coal-bearing lands and their vesting in a government company. Lands no longer suitable or economically viable for coal mining activities or lands from which coal has been mined out, de-coaled, and such reclaimed land can be chosen for utilisation under this policy.
Government coal companies, such as Coal India Ltd (CIL) and its subsidiaries shall remain owner of these lands as the policy allows only leasing of the land for the specified purposes. They can, however, deploy private capital in joint projects for coal and energy related infrastructure development activities.
The government company owning the land would lease it for specific period given under the policy and the entities for leasing shall be selected through a transparent, fair and competitive bid process and mechanism in order to achieve optimal value, the statement said.
The coal-bearing land can now be used for purpose of coal washeries, conveyor systems, coal-handling plants, railway sidings, rehabilitation and resettlement of project-affected families, thermal and renewal power projects, and coal development related infrastructure including compensatory afforestation.
As per the government, lands which are mined out or are practically unsuitable for coal mining are prone to unauthorised encroachment and entail avoidable expenditure on security and maintenance. Under the approved policy, establishment of various coal and energy related infrastructure, without transfer of ownership from government, would lead to generation of a large number of direct and indirect employment.
This unlocking of non-minable land for other purposes will also help CIL in reducing its cost of operations as it will be able to set up coal-related infrastructure and other projects such as solar plants on its own land by adopting different business models in partnership with private sector. It will make coal gasification projects viable as coal need not be transported to distant places.
The proposal to utilise land for rehabilitation purpose would ensure proper utilisation and eliminate wastage, avoid need for acquisition of fresh land for rehabilitation of project-affected families, eliminate loading of additional financial burden on the projects, and increase profits. It will also address the demand of the displaced families who always prefer to stay as close as possible to their original residential places. It will help in obtaining local support for coal projects and also providing land to the state government for afforestation in lieu of forest land diverted to coal mining.
The policy will help in realising the goal of Atmanirbhar Bharat by encouraging domestic manufacturing, reducing import dependence, job creation, etc, the statement said.