ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND MANAGEMENT IN BCCL

 INTRODUCTION

Mining activities in Jharia Coalfield (JCF) started more than 100 years back and it has been extensively exploited. Unscientific exploitation of coal resources in the past resulted in large scale degradation of the coalfield which has manifested in haphazard infrastructure development, depletion of green belt and overall ecological and environmental imbalances. Land, air, water and soil had been severely affected. On account of multi-seam regime of the coalfield the reclamation process has become a challenge.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL MEASURES TAKEN BY BCCL :

After nationalisation of the coal mines, BCCL has been making all efforts to mine the coal resource under all possible means compatible to a clean and safe environment in the region. It has spread its activities into the following environmental aspects.

A.          ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS COMPLIANCE

B.          WATER POLLUTION CONTROL

C.          AIR POLLUTION CONTROL

D.          SOIL QUALITY UPGRADATION

E.            NOISE ABATEMENT

F.           POLLUTION CONTROL IN WASHERY

G.         RECLAMATION OF DEGRADED LAND: BIOLOGICAL &    PHYSICAL

H.          REHABILITATION

I.               STATE POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD’S CONSENT   MANAGEMENT

J.            FORESTRY CLEARANCE

K.          EMP CLEARANCE & MONITORING

L.           ENVIRONMENT LABORATORY & OTHER INFRASTRUCTURE

M.   LAND RESTORATION / RECLAIMATION OF OPENCAST COAL MINES OF BCCL BASED ON SATELLITE DATA FOR THE YEAR 2009 - NEW

 

 

 

 A) ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS COMPLIANCE

BCCL is observing and complying with all the following applicable environmental laws and regulations laid down by the Ministry of Environment and Forests(MOEF) from time to time.   

·       Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.

·       Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977.

·       Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.

·       The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

·       Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Amendment Rules, 2000

·       Batteries (Management & Handling) Rules, 2001

·       Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998

·       Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000

·       Forest Conservation Act, 1980.

·       Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

·       EIA Notification, 2006 for Environmental Clearance

 ·       Circulars and amendments issued by MOEF/CPCB, JSPCB from time to time.

 B) WATER POLLUTION CONTROL 

  ·       Water quality monitoring by sophisticated instruments

Sophisticated instruments like Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer, ION Selective Indicator etc besides conventional laboratory tests are used to determine the water pollution  levels of various water sources of the units of BCCL.

·         Utilisation of pumped out water from underground and open cast          mines for drinking and domestic purpose after adequate treatment

There are several water treatment plants in BCCL which improves the

water quality and the same is supplied to the employees colonies for drinking and domestic purposes.

 

·        ·       A proposal is underway with New Castle University, UK and IIT- Delhi with CIL for pollution control of Damodar River. The team had visited JCF on 19-9-2008.

·       A conceptual project proposals are to be submitted to Chairman, CIL  on Damodar River basin at the earliest.

·       Team is in touch with DC, Dhanbad and Damodar Action Plan is also being studied by the team for the purpose.

 ·       Buttress walls will be constructed around OB dumps near river banks to prevent soil erosion and controlling water pollution.  

C) AIR POLLUTION CONTROL

 

·       Monitoring of ambient air quality with latest equipment

The monitoring of ambient air is being done in  all the units of BCCL by High Volume Samplers, Respirable Dust  Samplers and Automatic analysers. Stack monitoring is also done for the chimneys of BP coke ovens and other stacks as and when required.

·       Water sprinkling in all open cast mines, coal handling points, washeries and other units

·       Washeries are having its separate dust suppression and dust extraction system at all dust generating points apart from water sprinkling system to control air pollution.

·   Tree plantation and creation of green belts in mining areas and  along roads  

·       Construction of peripheral roads

BCCL entrusted Border Road Origination for construction of new Ring Roads around the periphery of Coalfield area for handling of heavy traffic and diversion of traffic from densely populated area.  These have helped in improving the overall air quality condition of Dhanbad Region. A total of about 160 km. of new roads have already been constructed and. Tree plantation along both sides of ring roads and other major roads has been done for a stretch of 60 kms.

 

·     Dust control systems   in new Coal Handling Plants and Drills.

 

 

D) SOIL QUALITY UPGRADATION

 ·   Soil quality monitoring

·       Species selection by soil analysis

·       Top soil addition and conservation

 

E) NOISE ABATEMENT

·       Monitoring of noise and vibration is being done at different units of BCCL.

·       Ear muffs/ear plugs have been introduced for operators of HEMM, specially near crushers, drills etc. 

·       Proper maintenance of machines and sound dampening devices, changing of liners, packings, etc. at regular intervals have been  introduced to reduce noise pollution.

F) POLLUTION CONTROL IN WASHERY

Water Pollution abatement measures in Washeries

 ·       Closed recirculation arrangement in Washeries and Coke plants

The effluents from Washeries are not allowed to flow beyond the washery premises and is totally recirculated after it is treated properly for settling in slime/settling ponds. Suitable flocculants like Alum,Aerofloc,Flocal,Satelite-100,etc. are added in the slime ponds for faster settling of fines.  This has been a major achievement in BCCL and has resulted in improvement in water quality of Damodar River.  The following steps were taken to implement this system.

·       Effluent treatment/Re-circulation arrangement ensuring Zero Discharge.

For maximum recovery of coaly matter, coal is crushed down to lower sizes. During crushing , fines are generated which are upgraded in Hydro-cyclones and Flotation Cells. The upgraded coal and tailings are dewatered in Dewatering screens, Thickeners, H.F.Screens and Filters from where the dewatered upgraded coal is separated and slimes/ tailings are diverted to slime ponds. Thus, slurry produced during washing of coal is allowed to settle in settling ponds so that the suspended particles are settled and clarified water is re-circulated back to the washing plant. Suitable flocculants are added to the settling ponds to accelerate the rate of settling of fines. The slurry settled in the settling ponds is cleared from time to time. No effluent/ slurry is allowed to flow beyond the premises of the washery. Storm water drain is constructed to meet up the excess run off during the rainy season. Extra pumps and back up pumps have been commissioned for re-circulation of water back to the washing plant during rainy season.

Air Pollution abatement measures in Washeries

·       Water Sprinkling

Water sprinkling is done on roads, sidings, coal transportation/ transfer points, CHP, crushers etc. to control dust emission. Water sprinkling reduces fugitive dust emission to a great extent and thereby reduces air pollution level.

 ·       Tree Plantation

Tree plantation have been done in and around washery premises as a part of biological reclamation. This has helped in controlling soil erosion, noise pollution and air pollution. Good green belts can be seen around washeries of Mohuda, Madhuband, Moonidih, etc.

   Noise Pollution Control

Oiling, greasing and packing are done at every maintenance hours of the running equipment to save the life and suppress the noise generation from the equipment. Proper liners in equipment are also replaced time to time to save from wear and tear and to minimize the generation of noise from the equipment.

 OTHER KEY ACTIVITIES FOR EFFECTIVE POLLUTION CONTROL

·       Systematic and regular excavation of the slurry ponds to make the space available for settling of fines in the ponds/ dyke area itself and recycle back the clear water through pumps for re-use in the plant as process water.

·       The recycling pumps have been fully renovated and are operating under strict supervision to avoid any out flow of effluent/ clear water.

·       The slurry excavated from slime ponds are sold in the market from time to time. 

LONG TERM/ FUTURE PLANS FOR ZERO POLLUTION FROM WASHERIES:

 ·       Capital replacements through Renovation Plan by procuring HEMM for departmental evacuation of fines and local transportation upto the sidings within the washery premises.

·       Evacuation of slurry ponds by outsourcing through open Tender thereby allowing more space for fresh generated fines/ tailings.

·       Market study/ exploration for disposal of slurry.

·       Sale of slurry through e-auction of 1MT/year is proposed.

·       Fine coal circuit will be modernized.

·       General awareness for eco-friendly environment will be developed among all concerned with the washery and nearby habitants.

Rain Water Harvesting

The rain water in the catchment area of the washery premises is mostly collected in the settling ponds from where the water is recycled to washing plants through re-circulating pumps. Adequate settling time is allowed to water to percolate to the underground body. In settling ponds, water is maintained round the year from where continuous ground water penetration is possible. This is one of the best methods of rain water harvesting in the industry.

 

G) RECLAMATION OF DEGRADED LAND:

 

BIOLOGICAL & PHYSICAL 

 The total degraded land in the JCF, as estimated by CMPDIL in 1986, was 6,294 hectares, details of which are given below.

 ¨   Subsided area                   : 3,497    hectares

¨   Minefire area                     : 1,732    hectares

¨   External Spoil Dumps         :    641    hectares

¨   Old abandoned pits            :    434    hectares

 Biological reclamation of degraded mining land by way of plantation was the first effort of BCCL towards tackling land degradation. Large-scale afforestation programme was started by BCCL since 1986.

BIOLOGICAL RECLAMATION        

·     In the last 16 years BCCL has reclaimed 3460 hectares of degraded land through biological reclamation. The type wise land reclaimed are:

¨   Subsided area         : 1998   hectares

¨   Minefire area           :   615   hectares

¨   Overburden dumps  :   556  hectares

¨   Other areas            :   291   hectares 

·     Biological reclamation has been carried out mostly by large-scale plantation on subsided land, surface areas affected by fires and OB dumps, and so also in colonies and along the coalfield roads.

·     BCCL has planted more than 1.40 crores trees till date.

·     The plantation is done departmentally as well as through State Forest Deptts. of Bihar/ Jharkhand, and that of West Bengal.

·     Technical collaboration/ advice from experts of Jadavpur University, State Forest Department and other expert organisations is being sought regularly.  

·     The tree plantation done during the last 17 years is given below:          

            

 

              Year               No .of saplings planted (lakhs)  

              1992-93                    8.00

              1993-94                  10.00

              1994-95                  3.00

              1995-96                  0.86

              1996-97                  3.92

              1997-98                  6.94

              1998-99                  0.20 (Dept.)

              1999-2000              0.40 (Dept.)

              2000-01                  0.47

          2001-02                 0.20

          2002-03                 6.95 (EMSC scheme)

          2003-04                 0.06 (Dept.)

          2004-05                  0.13 (Dept.)

          2005-06                  0.16

          2006-07                  2.00

          2007-08                  0.10 (Dept)

2008-2009                               0.12  (Deptt.)

2009-2010               0.12 (Deptt.) till Jan, 2010

 ·     Species planted : Chakundi, Peltoforum, Teak, Accacia, Gamhar, Subabool, Karanj, Neem, Bakain, Seesam, Bargad, Arjun, Siris, Jamun, Kathal, Anar, Shariffa, etc.

Development of Nursery:

·     Two captive nurseries with a capacity of 2 lakhs saplings per year in Jagjiwan Nagar and Koyla Nagar have been established to cater to the needs of the saplings to be planted in different Areas and Hqrs.

·     Technical collaboration/ advice from experts of Jadavpur University, State Forest Department and other expert organisations is being sought.  

 

 

Success stories of  Biological reclamation

(i) Successful reclamation of fire areas are 

Þ  Sendra Bansjora - Heavy green belt created

Þ  Gopalichack of PB Area - Successful plantation over reclaimed fire area

Þ  Lodna Area (behind Bhaga  club)

(ii)  OB Dumps

·     Successful plantation carried under adverse soil conditions with low nutrition value of OB dumps are Bhowrah, Kusunda, Ena, Sijua, Muraidih, Chanch_Victoria etc. 

·     Levelling, sloping, dressing done and soil added in pits before plantation.

·     Selective species planted: Chakundi, Peltroforum, Acacia, Sisam, Teak, Gamhar, Bargad, Jack fruit etc. 

(iii)  Mined Out Areas

·     Very successful reclamation of mined out areas carried out in Jhunkunder OCP and part of  Damagoria (Chaptoria).

·     Heavy green belts created with mixed plantation.

·     Ponds developed with fisheries.

·     Ecological park/ picnic spot developed.

(iv)  Subsided areas

·     Successful tree plantation carried out in subsided areas at Kustore, Bera, Chandmari, Bhalgora, Jealgora, Gaslitand, Katras, Govindpur, Putki-Bulihari etc.

·     Mixed species planted. 

 SCHEMES FOR RECLAMATION OF DEGRADED LAND IN BCCL

METHODOLOGY

The scheme includes physical and bio-reclamation of OB dumps, reclaimed fire areas and subsided areas. The sites have been selected where there are no immediate plans for the mining the underlying, seams and subsided areas.

 During the first year, the preliminary jobs of survey demarcation, trenching etc. is done. Subsequently, nursery raising and soil conservation work is done. Further, the plantation work is done for the month of July-August after which weeding and hoeing is done during the 1^st year. Constant protection/ guarding be provided by the Forest Department for maintaining these plantation area. Further weeding and hoeing and protection including replacement of casualties is done during the 2^nd and 3^rd years.

Tree species :   The trees planted depend on the availability of seeds, saplings and the local conditions. Since the areas are mostly difficult areas with low quality of soil and conditions, the species selected are hardy type and based on our earlier experience of plantation in these areas. Fruit plants like guave, jamun, bel sharifa, jackfruil etc. are also preferred wherever the soil conditions are favourable.

The main tree species proposed to be planted are :

 ·       Cassia siamea ( Chakundi )

·       Dalbergia sisoo ( Sisem)

·       Gmelina arberea ( Gamhar )

·       Peltrophorum Ferrugineum (Peltroforum)

·       Pongamia pinnate (Karanj)

·       Acacia Arabica (Acacia)

·       Albizzia lebeck (Siris)

·       Mehazedarach (Bakain)

·       Shorea rubusta (Sal)

·       Azadarichta indica(Neem)

·       Leucaena leucocephala (Babool)

·       Tectona grandosa (Teak) etc.

DETAILS OF PLANTATION DONE BY FOREST DEPARMENT IN 79 HA OF LAND         (2005-06)                                          

Sl. No.	Location	Area in ha.	No of Plants	Type of Land
1.	KARKENDH	25	62500	Overburden and surrounding Levelled Land
2.	MAHESH PUR	06	15000	Levelled Land
3.	KHARKHAREE	14	35000	Levelled Land
4.	CHAITUDIH	22	55000	Levelled Land
5.	NEW ASHKINAREE	12	30000	Levelled Land
	TOTAL	79	197500

 

 

NEW PROPOSAL OF PLANTATION TO BE DONE BY FOREST DEPARMENT IN 175.42 HA OF DEGRADED LAND                                                

Sl. No.	Location/Area	Area in ha.	No of Plants	Type of Land
1.	BARORA	57.84	144600	Overburden
2.	BLOCK-II	5.40	13500	Overburden
3.	GOVINDPUR	4.00	10000	Overburden
4.	KATRAS	45.00	125000	Overburden
5.	SIJUA	8.00	20000	Overburden
6.	KUSUNDA	10.81	27025	Overburden
7.	KUSTORE	4.50	11250	Overburden
8.	BASTACOLLA	20.82	52050	Overburden
9.	EJ	4.28	10700	Overburden
10.	WJ	14.77	36918	Overburden
	TOTAL	175.42	438543

Follwing species wise plantation out of above plantation has been proposed to be done

SPECIES	%
BAMBOO TREES AWLA TREES KATAHAL MANGO JAMUN	20% 30% 30% 10% 10%

 

 

CSR ACTIVITIES :

CMD BCCL is keen on the issue of improvement of environment and  surrounding social life . The year 2010-11 has been declared as an year of “Environment and Plantation”.

Plantation

A plan has been chalked out to do plantation where the coal up to the combined seam has been fully exploited . These areas have been identified and to be planted with commercial trees in association with district forest officer.

The underground coal mining has been planned for the expoitation of coal below the combined seam with an aim for  reducing the land requirement and minimising environmental pollution.

For the plantation in villages in the non-coal bearing area ,  involment of society is being explored with the help of divisional forest officer under the social forestery schemes.

Development of Nursery

During the year 2010-11 there is programme for developing 15000 saplings mainly of fruit bearing type at Koylanager Nursery. Further there is proposal for developing 1 lakhs saplings at Koylanager Nursery is under process of approval.

Species of saplings (15000 nos)  are as under :

SL. NO	Name of Saplings	No. Of  Sapling
1.	Guava	1500
2	Papya	1500
3	Sarifa	1000
4	Kathal	500
5	Awala	1500
6	Kaju	500
7	Anar	1000
8	Mango	2000
9	Bel	500
10	Jamun	500
11	Sahajan	500
12	Lemon	750
13	Arjun	500
14	Siris	500
15	Chakundi	500
16	`Ashok	250
17	Gulmohar	250
18	Sagawan	250
19	Gambhar	250
20	Sisam	250
21	Karanj	500

 

 

MINE CLOSURE & RECLAMATION :

In command area of BCCL , there are about 40 Coal horizons out of that 18 number are workable. Only upper seam Coal horizons have been extracted and lower Coal horizons are still virgin or being developed in the major part of the Jharia Coalfield. It is not possible to restore the excavated land until the entire workable Coal horizons are extracted.           

 

Mine closer guideline issued by MoC in Nov-09 is being followed . Provision of mine closure plan with the details of Corpus fund is being made in the project reports / EMP prepared by CMPDI, RI- II and submitted to MoEF for final approval and clearance.

RESTORATION OF CLOSED JHUNKUNDAR OPEN CAST MINE

·       The Jhunkundar closed mine is located in Chanch-Victoria Area of BCCL.

·       This mine was closed in 1998.

·       The mining lease area is 72.27 Ha. with 61.09 Ha. of surface rights.

·       The mined out quarry ( 26.71 Ha. ) is submerged with 104 million gallons of water and has formed a water Reservoir.

·       BCCL is supplying water for domestic purpose from this late to surrounding villagers and BCCL employees.

·       This water filed quarry also acts as a “ Rain Water Harvesting Structure” which helps in recharging the ground water table.

·       Pisciculture (fish) by local villagers is done here.

·       The surrounding area (32 Ha.) of the quarry is planted with dense trees (about 80,000 trees) by BCCL.

·       The site has been restored to a natural eco-system.

  FIRE & SUBSIDENCE CONTROL MEASURES

 Fires are as old as the mining in Jharia Coalfield. Coal is prone to spontaneous heating particularly in this coal field. Unfortunately the condition had been created by the previous entrepreneurs through unscientific mining, which resulted in the fires.

 · First fire occurred in 1916 at Bhowrah.  With no worthwhile precaution taken, the number of fires kept on increasing and by 60’s these had spread over the entire JCF.   

· Mostly good quality upper seams (above V/VI/VII/VIII combined seam) had been affected by fires.

· At present there are total  67 fire sites have been identified which are affecting 41 collieries of BCCL. 

DEALING WITH FIRES, SUBSIDENCE AND REHABILITATION

Efforts Made In The Past

i)   FIRE CONTROL

BCCL prepared 22 nos of Project reports and one advanced action proposal from  1976 to 1988 for dealing with the fires. These reports were sanctioned by the competent authority for an envisaged total expenditure of Rs 114.57 crores.

Massive efforts were made in the implementation of 22 fire projects by the application of the best available technology such as Digging, Trenching, Dozing, Blanketting with non-combustible material, Sand flushing, Inert gas injection, Water pooling, Isolation stoppings, Mutti capping, Surface sealing, Addition of top soil, Hydraulic sand stowing and Remote sand-bentonite mixture flushing etc. Besides, stabilisation work was carried out to save Railway lines, jores and other areas which were accessible.

Over 22 million cubic metres of blanketting work was carried out and more than 50 million tonnes of sand stowed below ground. Approximately 3 million cubic metres of nitrogen gas has been flushed below the ground to control the fires, concurrently about 10 million tonnes of coal were saved from blazing fires. A large number of HEMM such as shovel, dozer, tippers and compactors were deployed for carrying out fire fighting operations.

A sum of Rs 75.0 crores approximately have been incurred in the fire fighting measures against these approved fire reports so far.

However, in those area which are occupied by unauthorised persons and heavily built up over old, pre-nationalisation workings, with danger of possible subsidence and not approachable from underground side, it has been difficult to carry out stabilisation and fire abatement work.

This has resulted in :

·     Liquidating 10 fires completely

·     Released over approx. 400 million tonnes of coal, of which approx. 180 million tonnes valued at Rs.8000 crores were saved from total destruction.

·     Controlled rest of the fires from causing total devastation.

·     Reduced  the total surface area affected by fires from 17.00 sq.km. (assessed in 1986) to 9 sq.km. i.e. 48% reduction in fire area. Asper the recent (2206) TIR survey by NRSA, Hyderabad the surface fire area is about 3.0 sqkm only.

·     Reduced blockage of coal to 1453 million tonnes against original 1864 million tonnes.

 

 

 ii)  SUBSIDENCE CONTROL:

Over the years BCCL has been making continuous efforts to control  the subsidence in all the vulnerable areas, to the extent  practicable and possible. Some of the important locations where measures have been taken to control subsidence are as under: 

·     Subsidence control by sand stowing.

·     Jore Bed Stabilisation to prevent accidental flooding due to subsidence.

·     Shifting of people from endangered areas to non-coal bearing areas.

    Major Work Done For Preventing /Controlling Subsidence In BCCL 

    (A) Subsidence Control In Fire Areas By Blind Flushing 

1. Phularitand Fire X, XI, XII & XIII Seams

2. Industry-Kusunda Fire XI To XIV Seams and Kari Jore

3. Bhalgora Fire Stabilisation of 2 Pit, Simlabahal

4. Lodna Fire to protect Dhanbad Sindri Road and Dhanbad Patherdih Railway Line

5. Kendwadih 6 & 7 Pits XIII, XIV seams fire

6. Stabilisation Of 1 Pit Shaft Pillar At Amlabad  (XIV seam fire)

 (B) Jore Bed Stabilisation For Preventing Accidental Flooding

 1. Kari Jore bed stabilisation at Industry Colliery.

2. Katri River bed stabilisation in Katras Area

3. Sendra Nalla At Mudidih/Kankanee

4. Ekra Jore At Loyabad, Bansdeopur, Bassuriya, Sendra Bansjora,     Gopalichak

5. Chatkari Jore at Kujama, Joyrampur, North Tisra

6. Dungri Jore at Bhowra South

Further since 1997-98, 12(twelve) Environmental Measuresand subsidence Control EMSC schemes  and 4(Four) Rehabilation and control of Fires and subsidence(RCFS) schemes were sanctioned for a total outlay of Rs. 101.45 crores. Out of this 7 EMSC have been completed and 5 EMSC and 3 RCFS schemes are under implementation.

 

 

iii)              WORLD BANK STUDY

A.      ASSISTED JHARIA MINE FIRE CONTROL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE  PROJECT (IDA CREDIT NO.2450-IN)

Under the assistance of US $ 12.0 million from the World Bank the Jharia Mine Fire Technical Assistance Project was taken up by BCCL for carrying out the diagnostic study for dealing with fires and preparation of Environmental Management Plan. Two international consultants : GAI-METCHEM Joint venture and Norwest Mine Services Ltd. were engaged for Fire Fighting Programme and Environment Management Plan respectively. The consultants started the work in 1994 and completed their study in March 1996. These consultants used the state-of-art technology and modern scientific tools and methods for the evaluation of the problems and projections of the possible mitigating measures.

The consultants for preparation of Fire Fighting Programme has submitted the report in November 1996.

        B.        ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN

 The report by the Environmental Consultants relating to socio-economic study, air quality, water management, water quality monitoring and mine reclamation was submitted in January 97. The major findings/recommendations are given below:

·        Thermal Power Plants, Diesel generators and Coke manufacturing lead to significant air quality concerns. The contribution of Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) emission by mining is only 6% as against 31% by traffic, 8% by power plants and 37% by coking and briquetting.

·       The water quality in the coalfields is diverse. The mine water is treatable to be fit for domestic use.

·       The pollution load in the Damodar River by the coalfield is estimated to be only 15%, the rest being contribution from upstream, power plants etc.

·       Construction of small reservoirs to the north of the coalfields across the nallas/ streams has been suggested. These would act as water reservoirs for domestic and commercial use.

·       The present programme of biological reclamation of OB dumps, subsidence areas quarries and fire areas to be continued.

·       Community involvement should be initiated for protection of existing plantation and to encourage social forestry.

 

 

 

 

 Efforts / Activity under implementation at present

MASTER PLAN FOR DEALING WITH FIRES, SUBSIDENCE AND REHABILITATION IN BCCL (March-2008)

 BACKGROUND

The Standing Sub-committee of SSRC on Environment and Ecology directed CMPDI in its XVI th meeting held at CIL, Calcutta on 30.06.98 to prepare a Master Plan for dealing with the problems of fire, subsidence and rehabilitation in the leasehold of BCCL, considering the fire control measures, areas to be stabilized, areas requiring rehabilitation including the phased requirement of funds for the same. Accordingly, report entitled “Master Plan for dealing with fire. Subsidence and Rehabilitation in the Leasehold of BCCL” was submitted in March ’99.

 PIL Case regarding Shifting of People from endangered areas:

A PIL case was filed by Sri Haradhan Roy, Ex-MP in 1997 with a prayer for order of initiation of immediate steps for control of fire and subsidence in BCCL and ECL and rehabilitation of affected persons within a specified time frame. Subsequently, it was ordered that an Action Plan should be prepared for dealing with fire, subsidence and rehabilitation of the people from the affected areas of Jharia Coalfield and Raniganj Coalfield. As an out come of writ petition (Civil) No. 387/97 filed by Sri Haradhan Roy, EX-MP in 1997, an Action Plan for shifting and rehabilitation, dealing with fire and stabilization of unstable areas was prepared in April ’03. This Action Plan was prepared based on Master Plan’99.

·       The Action Plan was sent to state Govt. of Jharkhand and West Bengal as well as to Ministry Labour/ DGMS for their comments and acceptance.

·       The Action Plan was finalized in July ’03 incorporating the decisions of State Govt. & DGMS.

·       Supreme Court of India appointed Director General of Mines safety to go through the Action Plan and file a report in the court.

·       DGMS constituted a committee and submitted its report in Aug’05. One of the observations of the committee was:

 “As there is no scientific method available to check long-term stability of the site stabilised by sand stowing, it might not be possible to certify that the areas thus stabilised. The present stabilization work may restrict the effect of subsidence and allow some time. The final and permanent solution is evacuation of the affected area and rehabilitation”.

·       The updated Master Plan was approved by BCCL and CIL Board in July ’04 and submitted to MOC for approval.

·       Planning commission accorded “In Principal” approval of the Master Plan in March 2005.       

·       MOC directed that : In view of the DGMS Committees’ observation all the areas where stabilization through hydraulic stowing was proposed now have to be considered for total re-settlement, and the execution of Master Plan should be tried to be completed within a period of 10 years (excluding 2 years pre-implementation).

·       Accordingly, the Master Plan was revised in July’2006.

·       This Master Plan is cost-updated in March, 2008 by CMPDIL.

Master plan has been approved by Govt. of India and communicated vide letter no-22020/1/2005-CRC dated 12-08-09 of MoC. (hyperlink with existing page on web approval of Master Plan)

 

Present   Status  -   Fire Dealing

Thermal Infra Red Survey : Coarse resolution survey for demarcating surface fire boundaries has been completed by National Remote Sensing Agency(NRS), Hyderabad in 2006 at a cost of Rs. 11.10 lakh.

Ø      Preparation and implementation of fire schemes: Status is as below:

 

•                  19 Fire projects- Ongoing/Under  implementation taken as                                      advance action by excavation method  

•                      Expenditure                    Rs 452 Cr(appx) till dec’09 in fire projects.

                   

•                                 14 Fire project           Under process of approval

 

•                                 3 Fire Project             Under Preparation for FY 2010-11

 

 NEW FIRE SCHEMES UNDER PREPARATION AT CMPDI , RI-II

1. Scheme for dealing with fire at North Tisra South Tisra , Jeenagora and Joyrampur coliiery.`

2. Scheme for dealing with fire at Kujama and GOCP.

3. Scheme for dealing with fire at Ena colliery.

H)          REHABILITATION  

1.   Status: Demonstration Scheme

     Demonstration Scheme (dovetailed under Master Plan) for Shifting of people from most endangered areas was sanctioned by MOC at an estimated cost of Rs.61.09 crores  for construction of 3100 non-BCCL houses ( un-authorized ) and 1500 BCCL houses.

Ø      Non- BCCL Houses:

•         2352 houses constructed by JRDA with expenditure of Rs 25.19 Cr

•         Development work i.e, electrification & water supply system are in progress

•         Shifting of people from the most endangered area like, Bokapahari, Kukurtopa  &Gwalapatti under progress.

•         902 applications for allotment of houses have already been received from affected families by JRDA.

•         251 families have already  been allotted houses at Belgoria on their request

Ø       BCCL Houses

•         BCCL has constructed 344 houses, Expenditure incurred is Rs. 7.21 cr

•         All the 344 houses allotted/occupied by BCCL affected employees

•         Tender for  1152 houses has been floated to be finalised shortly. 

•         Estimate for construction of 4080 quarters is under approval

Ø       The total expenditure till Feb- 2010 is about Rs.32.40 Crore.

 

 

 

2.     REHABILITATION OF NON-BCCL HOUSES

STATUS OF ACTIVITIES AS PER APPROVED MASTER PLAN

ACTIVITY AS PER MASTER PLAN	STATUS AS IN Feb., 2010
Land acquisition660.27 ha in 1st Phase and 444.72 ha in 2nd Phase	Proposal for 364.33 ha under process of acquisition from  DLAO/GOJ by JRDA
Demograhic/ Socio-economic Survey of 54159 Non-BCCL families  in 595 sites	11606 non-BCCL families completed in 82 sites Work order  issued also to ISM for 21500 houses for Rs.36.26 Lakhs. 3133 ID cards issued.
Survey for diversion of Rail, Roads and other Infrastructure (Rs. 20 crs.)	RITES has already started survey work from 10.02.2010 for diversion of  of NH-32 and suggested 4 alternatives routes.
Town Planning of Non-BCCL townships	Town planning and project management consultancy for preparation of DPR for construction of satellite townships

3.  REHABILITATION OF BCCL HOUSES

STATUS OF ACTIVITIES AS PER APPROVED MASTER PLAN

ACTIVITY AS PER MASTER PLAN	STATUS AS IN Feb., 2010
Construction of 25000 houses for affected BCCL families(12462 in 1st Phase and 12538 in 2nd Phase)	Tendering for 1152 houses has been called on 11.11.2009 and opened on 21.12.09 for Rs.37.32 cr.(Estimated) Estimate for 816 MQ and 4080 qrtrs. Under approval
Demographic/ Socio-economic Survey of 25000 BCCL families living in endangered area	20% survey completed
Demolition of BCCL houses in the endangered  area	Demolition started for the houses, about 2000 demolished
Land acquisition 199.39 ha in 1st phase  And  200.61 ha  in 2nd Phase for total 25000 qrtrs.	48.57 ha in possession in existing BCCL colony. 210 ha identified in 1st phase for 16000 houses   (under possession of BCCL)

Diversion of Rails/ Roads

The  Master  Plan envisages dealing  with fire,  subsidence and   rehabilitation  in the unstable in-habitated areas only in the leasehold of BCCL. However protection measures against fire affecting the rail and roads have been considered under dealing with fire in this Master Plan.

 

Status

Ø      Provision of Rs 20.00 crore as advance action for surveying and planning kept in this Master plan

Ø      A number of railway lines, siding lines and roads passes through the coal bearing areas of JCF.

Ø      Some of these rail lines and roads are affected by fires at different location.

Ø      Requires accurate survey of the alternative routes, quantification of benefits and details layout planning by expert agencies like RITES.

Ø      This may take about two years of time

Ø       JRDA Board has approved award of work to RITES in Oct., 2009 for conducting study/survey of diversion of Rail lines and Roads. Agreement between RITES and JRDA is under process.

Ø      RITES has already started survey work from 10.02.2010 for diversion of  of NH-32and they have suggested 4 alternatives routes.  

I) STATE POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD MATTERS

·     Consent Applications from all mines/ units of BCCL for Air & Water and authorization for handling of bio-Medical waste for hospitals and hazardous wastes are regularly submitted to Jharkhand / West Bengal State Pollution Control Boards as required, and conditions laid down by the State Pollution Control Boards are complied.

·        Water consumption return submitted regularly from all mines / units of BCCL and payment of cess is being done.

·     Environment Statement (Env. Audit) for all mines/ units are being submitted.

·     Regular liaison with MOEF, Eastern regions, CPCB, JSPCB / WBSPC etc. is done.

 

J) FORESTRY CLEARANCE & MONITORING

 

Forestry Clearance for 234.08 ha to Ghanoodih, Bera and Dobari colliery

 

The FAC of MoEF has in its meeting held in Feb-10 has, in principle, agreed to grant STAGE-I Clearance to long awaited forest land clearance for 234.08ha under Ghanoodih, Bera and Dobari colliery of Bastacolla Area.

 

All other forestry clearances of the land for mining purposes are being taken up with the forest department on the basis of cluster concept finalized by MoEF.

 

 

 

 

 

K) EMP CLEARANCE & MONITORING 

·       Preparation of Environmental Management Plans(EMP)

·       Five EMPs are under implementation

·       Approval of New EMPs

·       Monitoring of approved EMPs - projects are being monitored on quarterly and half yearly basis continuously for meeting the compliance as envisaged by the MOEF.

In case of new projects, which have to be sent to Govt. of India for sanction, Environmental Management Plans are being prepared covering all environmental & social activities.  Environmental Impact Assessment is carried out to know the impact resulting from the mining and other activities.  Environment Management measures are taken.

 

EMPs approved by Ministry of Environment & Forests are given below:

 

 

 STATUS OF OBTAINING ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCE OF EXISTING MINES

Background of Environmental Scenario of Jharia Coalfield

Coal mining in Jharia Coalfield is being done for more than 100 years. Until the mines were nationalized in 1972-73, they were operated by private owners in an un-scientific manner, with out due attention to safety, conservation and environmental protection. Owing to this nature of un-scientific mining by   the private owners with the solo motto of ‘more hole more coal’, the Jharia coalfield was subjected to severe environmental degradation. BCCL, as a legacy had inherited various environmental problems like mine fires, subsidence, land degradation, disturbed topography and drainage pattern, water inundation etc., from the erstwhile private owners. Adding to these problems, migration into the coalfield has increased, habitations increased manifold with a very high population density.

The mining, geological, environmental and social/ demographic conditions of Jharia Coalfield are unique and mining in this coalfield has become a difficult and challenging proposition. Owing to this, the post-nationalization mining and environmental scenario of the Jharia Coalfield is totally different from other coalfields and cannot be compared to other coalfields.

All the 398 mines (214 Coking  + 184 Non-coking) taken over by BCCL in 1972-73 were having small leases without mine plans. There were neither mine plans nor environmental clearances (EMPs) for the taken over mines. BCCL had reorganized these small mines into 84 mines and started mining in a scientific manner as per the prevailing mine regulations with the objectives of safety, conservation, environmental protection and to meet the country’s coal demand. 

Status of obtaining Environmental Clearance

Following the decision taken in the meeting held on 28.2.2008 between Secretary (Coal) and Secretary (Environment & Forests), one of the decision taken was that a common EIA/ EMP can be prepared for cluster of mines lying in close vicinity. Based on this decision, BCCL had applied for obtaining environmental clearance in 17 clusters.

• BCCL presented the cluster concept on 24-25 Nov-09. MoEf agreed with all 17 clusters proposed which includes and address all the mine (operating and temporarily discontinued totaling to 103)  as well as proposed mine of BCCL, with dovetailing the Jharia Action Plan with the clusters proposed.
• EMP of Cluster no-1 (Damoda colliery) is being prepared by RI-II, CMPDI as per the Terms of Reference approved by MoEF .
• TOR  for cluster no-13 & 14 out of above agreed 17 clusters have been presented to MoEF and was agreed by MoEF .
• Form-1 for cluster no -16, 17 has been submitted to MoEF. And further CMPDI Hqrs. And RI-II will soon submit the form-1 for remaining clusters to obtain TOR.
•  

LIST OF APPROVED CLUSTERS OF BCCL

LIST OF 103 BCCL MINES GROUPED INTO 17 CLUSTERS