The Union Cabinet, on Wednesday, approved a utilisation policy for the use of land allocated for coal mines that have completed their life. Henceforth, these will be used for coal infrastructure.

“The new policy provides for utilisation of such land for the purpose of development and setting up of infrastructure relating to coal and energy,” said a government statement. Land that is no longer suitable or economically viable for coal mining activities or those from which coal has been mined out / de-coaledwill be reclaimed.

The land will be leased out and there will be no change in the ownership. Government coal companies, such as Coal India Ltd (CIL) and its subsidiaries, will remain the owner of the land acquired under the CBA Act, and the policy allows only leasing of the land for the specified purposes. Government coal companies can deploy private capital in joint projects for coal and energy-related infrastructure development activities.

The government company, which owns the land, will lease land for a specific period given under the policy, and the entities for leasing will be selected through a transparent, fair and competitive bid process and mechanism to achieve optimal value. The land will be considered for activities such as setting up coal washeries, conveyor systems, establishing coal-handling plants, constructing Railway sidings, rehabilitation and resettlement of project-affected families due to acquisition of land under the CBA Act or other land acquisition law, setting up thermal and renewal power projects and setting up or providing for coal development related infrastructure including compensatory afforestation beside others.

The land mined out or is practically unsuitable for coal mining are prone to unauthorised encroachment and entail avoidable expenditure on security and maintenance. Under the approved policy, establishment of various coal and energy-related infrastructure, without transfer of ownership from government companies, will lead to generation of a large number of direct and indirect employment.

This unlocking of non-minable land for other purposes will also help CIL in reducing its cost of operations as it will be able to set up coal related infrastructure and other projects such as solar plant on its own land by adopting different business models in partnership with private sector. It will make coal gasification projects viable as coal need not be transported to distant places.

According to the statement, the proposal to utilise land for rehabilitation purpose would ensure proper utilization of land and would eliminate wastage of all-important land resource, avoid acquisition of fresh chunk of land for rehabilitation of Project Affected Families, eliminate loading of additional financial burden on the projects and increase profit. It will also address the demand of the displaced families as they always prefer to stay as close as possible to their original residential places. It will help in obtaining local support for coal projects and also providing land to the State Government for afforestation in lieu of forest land diverted to coal mining.