The government announced on Wednesday that it has revised old legislation in the coal sector to boost domestic production and reduce imports of dry fuel. “Age old mineral concession rule, 1960 was governing many aspects of coal mining and needed amendment in furthering the coal sector reforms and also due to several legislations coming into existence such as those related to environment and forest conservation etc,” the Ministry of Coal said in a statement.
In the current scenario of the coal sector, public sector companies have been dominant both in the exploration and mining of coal, she added.
In view of the long gestation period of coal mines due to the complexities of multiple regulations, restrictive rules affecting the entry of potential investors in the coal sector, improvements have been made to the framework of freedom of operation to increase the quality of coal and to encourage the introduction of technology, the statement said.
In order to remove the repetition of provisions in the mining plan now covered by other statutory documents, the structure of the mining plan has been simplified.
Many overlapping information sought in mining plans has been deleted following the introduction of other legislation, such as environmental and forest conservation, etc.
Simplified guidelines have been issued, it said.
Processing of the mining plan for approval has been simplified with the aim of reducing the time to grant approval.
Power to approve the mining plan has been “delegated to CCO ‘s subordinate authority (coal control organization) with an interim provision for the interregnum.”
The system of appeals for transparency has been introduced.
Method has been made compliant with online approval in order to establish an electronic single window clearance system.
The amendment to allow for the allocation of coal blocks for composite prospecting license-cum-mining lease (PL-cum-ML) would help to increase the inventory of coal / lignite blocks available for sale.
“Any company selected through auction/ allotment to carry on coal mining operation for own consumption, sale without possessing any prior coal mining experience in India,” it said.
Registration of qualified persons for the preparation of the mining plan is no longer required. The declaration of the project proponent will suffice in this respect.
“Empowering block allocatee to make minor changes in mining plan and reducing requirement of repeated approvals thus giving flexibility in operation,” it said.
An option is now available for the coal block allocatee to engage the accredited prospecting agency to conduct the prospecting operation and prepare the Geological Report (GR) with a view to expediting exploration, bringing technology and faster growth in the coal sector.
Additional options are also made available to project proponents through an accreditation system for the mining plan that prepares the Agency for preparation.
Similarly, a peer review of the mining plan to improve the quality of mining planning and the fast tracking approval system has also been introduced.
