The State-owned mining company The Singareni Collieries Company has completed public hearing for the Naini coal blocks in Odisha and plans to take up mining activity next fiscal.
N Sridhar, Chairman and Managing Director of Singareni, said, “People extended support at the Environment Public hearing today in the presence of government officials for the Naini block which is proposed to be taken up for mining by Singareni in Odisha.”
He expressed happiness and thanked the Odisha government, local people’s representatives and general public. Since all the permissions for the Naini block are ready and the locals are also positive, the mine will be taken up on a fast track mode for coal production.
The mining company has planned a target of 10 lakh tonnes of coal production during 2021-22 and all arrangements are being made for mining.
Additional District Magistrate Santosh Kumar Pradhan headed the Naini coal block people’s opinion survey program at Angul in Odisha District. People’s opinion was sought under the supervision of officials.
Speaking on this occasion the government officials said that the coal produced by Singareni will be helpful to meet the power needs of the country and Singareni will also take up some welfare activities in nearby villages as part of their corporate social responsibility.
The Naini coal block, spread across 912 acres and 783 hectares is in forest area, would be a boon for Singareni. From estimated total coal reserves of 340 million tonnes, it is likely to mine about 10 million tonnes of coal per year coal for the next 38 years.
Presently in the opencast mines 6 to 7 cubic meters of overburden has to be removed per ton of coal but at Naini block open cast mine only 2.58 cubic meters of over burden needs to be removed. The coal is high grade (G-10). A washery with a capacity of 80 lakh tonnes per year is also being planned to be set up.