26/11/2019 - Government Policies | Mainstorming

IAS Parliament 5 years

KEY POINTS

· There is a risk that some coal mines operated by private companies, or State government entities who outsource their coal mines to private entities, may be closed without having the necessary funds to complete the mine closure activities as per the approved Mining Plans.

· Therefore, India needs more effective and efficient regulatory governance to streamline approvals while ensuring the adoption of advanced technologies for mining, environment protection, and reclamation.

Unified authority

· Therefore, the government must set up an independent, multi-disciplinary unified authority on the pattern of the Director-General of Mines Safety, which is staffed with varied scientific and technological experts required to regulate all matters related to health and safety in the mineral industry.

· Such an authority must have in-house professional expertise in the ecological, environmental, geological, mine planning, hydro-geology, biodiversity, and social aspects of coal mine closure to consider all these facets in an integrated manner before granting all key statutory approvals for coal mines.

· These steps are critical to remove the overlapping jurisdictions of multiple bodies which govern matters related to forest, environment, and mine opening/closure in India.

· While this authority must also be empowered to enforce compliance of these clearances by all coal mines in India throughout operation right up to final closure, it need not be involved in the allotment of coal blocks or in regulating the coal market.

· Any appeal against an order/decision made by this authority may lie only with the National Green Tribunal.

Official Code

· To achieve the above goals, the Parliament must enact a “Sustainable Coal Mining Code” to consolidate all statutory provisions governing opening/closing and environment/forest matters related to coal mines.

· This Code must empower the unified authority to ensure efficient and effective environmental governance of coal mines in the manner explained above.

· An empowered unified authority for coal mining can ensure effective compliance with all statutes related to mining, environment, forest, and mine opening/closure in coal mines by using remote sensing and GIS-based tools for remote surveillance in conjunction with quarterly inspections of each coal mine.