An expert appraisal committee of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has faulted Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) for making “premature” proposals “without applying mind” while seeking amendments in the environmental clearance of two mines and terms of reference for expansion of a cluster of five mines.
At its meeting held in New Delhi on December 5, the expert committee has pointed out short work done by the project proponent (SCCL) and its consultants in submitting proposals without proper home work.
The panel faulted the proposal for grant of terms of reference (ToR) for expansion of the cluster of five opencast-cum-underground mines — Godavarikhani incline No.1 and 3 and Godavarikhani coal mine No. 2, 2A and 5 in Ramagundam area of Peddapalli district with a combined peak capacity of 5.13 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) — stating that the initial proposal itself was not given clearance yet.
Initial proposal
“The question of expansion does not arise when the initial proposal for the cluster with 1.73 MTPA capacity itself is not given environmental clearance (EC),” the committee said. The ToR for the initial proposal were issued on June 26 this year and the public hearing was held on November 28.
Further, the committee observed: “The project proponent and its consultants have not applied their mind before application. They shall at least read the provisions of the EIA Notification, 2006 and its amendments.”
In the case of proposal for expansion with amendment in the EC given in March 2010 to Jalagam Vengalrao Opencast-II project with 5 MTPA capacity in Sathupalli mandal of Khammam district, the panel felt that there was no point in considering the proposal as it involves non-compliance of the EC conditions.
Railway siding
The project has been in operation since September 1, 2017 and the coal transportation is still continuing by road in spite of its prohibition, the committee said and desired that the Ministry may take appropriate action for the “non-compliance”. It noted that action for non-compliance was being processed by the monitoring cell of the impact assessment division of the Ministry.
In another proposal for amendment in the EC given in March 2015 to Kalyan Khani Opencast Project with 2 MTPA capacity in Adilabad district — for extending permission to transport coal by road up to the coal handling plant for 3 more years, up to March 19, 2023 — the panel observed that “the project proponent was not serious about compliance of EC conditions”.
“Enough time of 5 years was given to SCCL for construction of the railway siding. It can be concluded that it will take another five years to complete the work with SCCL’s own submission that the work is in the nascent stage,” the panel said and allowed two years time up to March 19, 2022 to transport coal by road, with no further extension of time. Efforts to contact the company officials concerned for their comments proved futile.
