Hyderabad: Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) has sought diversion of 104 hectares of forest land in Yellandu forest area of Bhadradri Kothagudem district for a coal mining project to be set up with Rs 4,500 crore.
The total coal reserves of the mine are 25 million tonnes (MTs), of which about 4.05 MTs is located in Yellandu reserve forest. SCCL filed an application recently with the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for forest clearance.
SCCL general manager of Yellendu, Y Rajeshwar Reddy, in the application to the forest department said, “We are going to start JK Opencast Mine towards the West side of the existing Jawaharkhani open cast mine. The Opencast Project requires a total land of 106 hectares. JK Opencast Mine is a coal mine, planned to produce 2 million tonnes of coal per annum with a capital outlay of Rs 316 crore and it has a life of 19 years. This project provides direct employment to 250 persons.”
He further stated, “This project will contribute benefit to society by way of increased employment resources.” The project will have a quarry area of 78 hectares.
