Madhya Pradesh and coal

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Coal plants in Madhya Pradesh, India

For a full list and map of all coal plants in Madhya Pradesh, India, go to CoalSwarm's Global Coal Plant Tracker and choose Region South Asia, Map India - Madhya Pradesh.

Mining

Major Indian Coal Companies

The World Coal Institute states that "almost all of India's 565 [coal] mines are operated by Coal India and its subsidiaries, which account for about 86% of the country's coal production. Current policy allows private mines only if they are ‘captive' operations, i.e. they feed a power plant or factory. Most of the coal production in India comes from opencast mining, contributing over 83% of the total production. Coal India employs some 460,000 people and is one of the largest five companies in India."[1]

The USGS estimates coal production from major wholly Coal India owned subsidiaries in Madhya Pradesh as being:

  • Northern Coalfields Ltd which operates in Indian Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and has an annual capacity of 24 million tonnes;
  • South Eastern Coalfields Ltd. which operates in Madhya Pradesh and has an annual capacity of 36 million tonnes;
  • Western Coalfields Ltd. which operates in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and has an annual capacity of 18 million tonnes;

Another major coal mining operation in Madhya Pradesh is Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd., India’s oldest coal miner, and the second largest Indian coal miner after Coal India. SCCL operates 13 opencast and 42 underground mines in the Godavari River Valley, in southern India (Andhra Pradesh), producing 52-million tons a year of coal, as of 2011.[2] SCCL is 50% owned by the Andhra Pradesh State government and 50% by the Indian government. In 2006, it had an annual capacity of 18 million tonnes.[3]

Opposition to power plants

November 2012: Woman immolates herself in protest against land acquisition for Katni power station

A Katni district villager, Sunia Bai, died one day after set herself on fire on Diwali day in protest over land acquisition for Katni power station. Following the self-immolation, police responded to a protest by residents of Bujbuja and Dakaria villages with a lathicharge, seizing the body. According to villagers, the police had threatened to bulldoze the home of Sunia Bai and her husband Chhaka Gadari. In addition, police arrested 12 villagers as well as former Janata Dal (United) MLA Saroj Bachchan Nayak. Protesters demanded that land acquired for the project be returned to farmers. Farmers also built funeral pyres on their land and warmed that they would immolate themselves if forcibly evicted. A second villager threatened with eviction, Pyare Lai Choudhary, was admitted to the hospital after drinking poison in a suicide attempt.[4][5]

September 2011: Greenpeace calls for moratorium on new coal projects in Singrauli

After releasing the 2011 report, "Singrauli: The Coal Curse," Greenpeace called for a moratorium on new coal mining activities in the Singrauli region, based on the findings of a Greenpeace team in the region that the projects "deprive the livelihood of displaced people and ruin their health." According to Priya Pillai, the communities are living in an atmosphere which is full of coal dust: "The people gave up their land for power that doesn't reach them."

In Singrauli, the Mahan, Chhatrasal, Amelia and Dongri Tal II forest blocks, which were earlier categorised as 'no go', are awaiting approval for coal mining from the government. Officially, 5,872.18 hectares of forest in the Singrauli region had been marked for non-forest use after the Forest Conservation Act came into force in 1980. According to the divisional forest officer of Singrauli, another 3,229 hectares have been proposed for such activities.

Singrauli is all set to become the country's "power capital" with a number of power plants coming up in Madhya Pradesh, apart from the nine open cast coal mines which are going to start production by 2014. The combined investment of all these projects is estimated to be over Rs 1 lakh crore. m/channels/cities/regions/visakhapatnam/protest-hinduja-power-plant-311 "Protest at Hinduja power plant,"] Deccan Chronicle, December 13, 2011</ref>

August 2007: 6,000 people face displacement in Madhya Pradesh

Five villages -- Sidhikhurg, Sidhikala, Tiyara, Jhanjhi, and Harrhawa -- covering approximately 3,000 acres and with a population of 10,000 people are slated for displacement by the Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project in the far western corner of Madhya Pradesh, a state located in central India. The project will use coal from mines located 20 to 25 kilometers away, in Mohar, Amlori, and Chatrasal. The project is sponsored by Reliance Power.[6]

Major coal companies

  • Coal India - The World Coal Institute states that "almost all of India's 565 [coal] mines are operated by Coal India and its subsidiaries, which account for about 86% of the country's coal production." The USGS estimates coal production from major wholly Coal India owned subsidiaries as including Northern Coalfields Ltd, which operates in Indian Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and has an annual capacity of 24 million tonnes.[7]

Articles and Resources

Sources

  1. ↑ "India", World Coal Institute, undated, accessed June 2008.
  2. ↑ "India’s SCCL stars $190m Adriyala coal mine" Miners Weekly, july 1, 2011.
  3. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey, "Table 2 India: Structure of the Mineral Industry in 2006", in 2006 Minerals Yearbook, U.S. Geological Survey, March 2008, pages 10.11 - 10.12.
  4. ↑ "Katni: Protests intensify against proposed power project, police resort to lathicharge," NDTV.com, November 16, 2012
  5. ↑ "MP: woman commits suicide to protest against land acquisition for power plant," IBNLive, November 16, 2012
  6. ↑ "6,000 people to lose land to Sasan project," Rediff India Abroad, August 27, 2007
  7. ↑ "India", World Coal Institute, undated, accessed June 2008.

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