HYDERABAD:Three projects of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) were granted Terms of Reference (ToR) by the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) on coal mining of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), paving the way for Environment Clearance (EC).
One project of the SCCL which got recommended for ToR is the Kakatiya Khani Opencast-III Phase -I (KTK OC-III phase-I) coal mining project for peak production capacity of 3 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) over an area 1,555.31ha in Ghanpur mandal of Bhupalpally district by converting underground mine to opencast mine.
Out of the total 1,555.31ha of land required for the project, the SCCL is in position of just 139.79Ha and the remaining 1,415.52 Ha is to be acquired, for which seven villages have to be fully rehabilitated and three villages have to be partially rehabilitated. Another project at Bhupalpally is the Kakatiya Khani-5 (KTK-5) incline underground coal mine project to expand its capacity from 0.6 Million Tonnes per Annum (MTPA) to 1.44 MTPA, along with an increase in an area of the coal mine from 316.65 hectares(ha) to 516.39ha.
The KTK-5 project was actually granted Environmental Clearance in 2008 for coal production capacity of 0.6MTPA on 316hectares. However, the SCCL plans to expand coal mining capacity as well as area of the mine now, which includes expansion over 198ha of forest land.
Both the projects of Kakatiya Khani are said to be satisfying the coal requirements of the Kakatiya Thermal Power Plant located in Bhupalpally. With ToR granted for both projects, they can go ahead with conduction of public hearing and preparation of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environment Management Plan (EMP) reports.
The third project is the Bellampally OC-II project, spread across Asifabad and Mancherial districts, was also granted ToR. The project is proposed for expansion of the capacity of Bellampally OC-II mine from 0.4 MTPA to 1.0 MTPA by SCCL in an area of 191.98 ha. The EAC has granted exemption for the project to conduct public hearing and has asked to submit just the EIA and EMP reports.