The public hearing held at Karod Bahal village in Angul district of Odisha on Wednesday as part of the process for getting environmental clearance for the Naini coal block allotted to Singareni Collieries Company Ltd has expressed support for the project.
According to officials of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd here, people who participated in the public hearing had no major objections to the coal mining project. Chairman and Managing Director of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd N. Sridhar thanked the Odisha government officials, local people and general public for ensuring a smooth conduct of the public hearing on Wednesday.
Many permissions for the coal block have already been secured, and the positive public opinion expressed on Wednesday would also speed up completion of other formalities so that coal mining could be be taken up in the next financial year (2021-22).
The company has plans to extract about one million tonnes of coal in 2021-22.
About 500 local people from six villages near the coal block area have participated in the public hearing and about 35 of them spoke on behalf of the villagers said they have no objection in coal mining to be taken up by Singareni in the Naini block.
Singareni Collieries Company Ltd officials said the operation of the Naini coal block would be a major boon to the coal business of Singareni.
The company has plans to produce about 10 million tonnes of coal every year to extract the 340 million tonnes reserves and the block spread across 912 hectares is expected to last for 38 years.
