MANISH GUPTA
Ranchi, Aug 31: The National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), which was allotted two coal blocks in Jharkhand in 2019, will acquire land under the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act, 1957, to avoid difficulties.
“Since there is difficulty in getting land clearance, we are now going through the Coal Bearings Areas Act route,” NMDC Production Director DK Mohanty is reported to have said at the Annual General Meeting of the company on Monday.
The Act provides for acquisition of coal bearing lands and their “vesting in government company”, free from any encumbrance. The land is acquired for government companies only for coal mining and activities related to mining purposes.
Mohanty said that the process of land acquisition is likely to be completed this year and the company would commence its mining operations from next year.
The India’s largest iron ore miner was allotted Rohne and Tokisud North coal mines in the Hazaribag district in 2019. Both the mines are at a close distance of 10 to 15 kms and are seen as an advantage as common infrastructure can be developed.
While Rohne coal mine has extractable reserves of 191 million tonnes of coking coal reserve, Tokisud North block has 52 million tonnes of thermal coal. The planned production capacity for Rohne is 8 mtpa and that for Tokisud North is 2.32 mtpa.
