KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – A special committee of India’s Ministry for Forests, Environment and Climate Change has rejected the environmental application for the expansion of Coal India Limited’s (CIL’s) Kasmunda coal mine, in the central Indian province of Chhattisgarh.

The mine, operated by CIL subsidiary South Eastern Coalfields, had submitted plans to expand production from the block to 60-million tonnes a year from the current 6-million tonnes a year, but the special committee rejected the environmental application on the grounds of breach of environmental laws and failure to maintain air quality under the existing mining operational conditions.

“After detailed deliberations by the committee, it is recommended that, pending a policy decision in respect of violations of environmental laws and such laws duly endorsed by the courts of law, and until all infrastructure proposed in the project are in place, no expansion beyond the already sanctioned capacity will be permitted at Kasmunda,” the committee said in a notice.

The Kasmunda coal block was considered sensitive as it was located in an area affected by ultra-left-wing extremists and the region was heavily fortified by special paramilitary forces dedicated exclusively to fighting extremist violence.

However, the Kasmunda mine was not the only one to hit an environmental roadblock.

As many as 12 of the 28 coal blocks allocated to miners through the country’s maiden rounds of auction were yet to secure environmental approval from various federal and provincial authorities.

These included coal blocks that were seized from the erstwhile owners on the grounds of having been illegally awarded and allocated to new miners though auctions.

Ambiguities were holding back the official transfer of environmental clearances granted to erstwhile owners by the new owners of the assets, a Coal Ministry official said.

Of the 12 blocks still awaiting environmental clearances, seven were specifically reserved and allocated to thermal power companies, including a block in the eastern Indian province of Jharkhand, which was bagged by Essar Power.

Coal Ministry officials said the government was in talks with provincial authorities to fast-track the grant of environmental clearances, citing the example of the Sial Ghori and Mandla coal blocks, which had been granted all approvals over the past two months. All pending clearances for the remaining 12 blocks were expected to be resolved over the next two months.

The official said that, as delays in the granting of environment approvals were beyond the control of miners who had bagged the assets through auction, the government would not execute the performance bank guarantees submitted for delays in operationalising the assets.