Integrated Baranj Mine
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The Kiloni, Manora Deep, Baranj I-IV (Integrated Baranj Opencast Coal Project) of 5.0 MTPA is located in Village Chakbaranj, Taluka Bhadrvati, District Chandrapur in the State of Maharashtra, India.
Location
The satellite image below shows the area of the mine in Village Chakbaranj, Taluka Bhadrvati, District Chandrapur, Maharashtra.
Background on Mine
The Kiloni, Manora Deep, Baranj I-IV (Integrated Baraj Opencast Coal Project) of 5.0 MTPA is located in Village Chakbaranj, Taluka Bhadrvati, District Chandrapur in the State of Maharashtra, India. The main consumers of the mine is the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited for its 1000 MW Bellary Thermal Power Plant, to which these mines were allocated in 2003. The EC for 2.5 MTY capacity was granted by MOEF vide No.J-11015/400/2005–IA.II (M) 18 May, 2006.[1] The KPCL gave the operational lease to the Eastern Mining and Trading Agency (EMTA), one of India’s biggest private coal mine firms, by forming a joint venture called the Karnataka-EMTA Company Limited (KECL). Mining operations started in 2008-2009.[2]. The mines were cancelled by the Supreme Court in 2014 as part of the overall coalgate scam. These mines were reallocated by the Ministry of Coal as part of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 as well as the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957[3] on March 31, 2015.[4]. The mining operations began again and in 2014-15, 2.478 MT coal was produced.[5] and 4.45 MT during 2016-17.[3] As of today the mines are not operational due to various legal cases and pending approvals.[4]
Controversies
The Kiloni, Manora Deep, Baranj I-IV (Integrated Baraj Opencast Coal Project) project have been in controversy since beginning and was cancelled by the Supreme Court in Coalgate Scam along with 214 coal-blocks in September 2014. On 4 January 2018, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a chargesheet and accused the state-owned Karnataka Power Corporation Limited, or KPCL, its private partner EMTA and their joint venture, Karnataka EMTA Coal Mines Limited, or KECML, of irregularities in the allocation and mining of six coal blocks in Maharashtra. The CBI has accused these three companies of committing illegal activities, violating the terms of allocation, as defined by the ministry of coal, and selling coal rejects—lower-grade coal sifted out during the purification process—in the open market. Three years later, the CBI established that KPCL, EMTA and KECML were all involved in a fraud. It accused KECML of lying to the government saying that coal rejects from their mines had no value even as EMTA sold the very same rejects to a private coal company.[6]
The land acquisition for the project has also faced resistance from the project affected families of Baranj village. Village Baranj is located 2 km east of Bhadrawati taluka of Chandrapur District in Maharashtra. The village has population of around 1286 households in three hamlets: Baranj Mokasa, Chak Baranj and Tanda. It has a mixed population of SC, ST, Notified Tribes and OBC. The village has been at loggerheads with the mining companies alleging unjust compensation for the land acquired from them and nonresettlement of the village for almost a decade now. The proposed land to be acquired was 1664.26 hectare, out of which 1469.5 ha is private land, 108.33 ha is "government" land including a road, pond, grazing land and 86.42 ha forestland. The village residents allege that they have not been provided proper rehabilitation nor they have been given the promised jobs after their land was acquired. They say the jobs provided were contractual in nature with wages ranging from four to eight thousand per month. Some residents who got the job complained that they were being kept in training period for several months, thus full remunerations were not given. Till now only agricultural land has been acquired and the hamlets are left untouched. According to local activists, KECML is supposed to eventually resettle the whole village but no such proposal for resettlement has been put forward by the company yet. With no agricultural land, residents are struggling to earn livelihood.[7]
Mine Details
- Sponsor: Karnataka Power Corporation Limited
- Parent company: Karnataka Power Corporation Limited
- Location: Village Chakbaranj, District Chandrapur,State Maharashtra, India
- GPS coordinates: 20.150267, 79.101211
- Status: Operating
- Production Capacity: 5 MTPA
- Total Resource:
- Mineable Reserves: 126.54 MTPA[1]
- Coal Type: Non-coking
- Mine Size: 1917 ha
- Mine Type: Opencast
- Start Year: 2008-09[1]
- Source of Financing:
- Permits and Applications: EC for 2.5 MTY capacity granted by MOEF vide No.J-11015/400/2005–IA.II (M) dated 18/05/2006. Revised Mining Plan for 5.0 MTY capacity approved by Ministry of Coal vide no. 13016/18/2004-CA-I (Part) 24 August, 2011[1]
Expansion Details
- Status:
- Size of Expansion:
- Permits and Applications:
Articles and Resources
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Metting Minutes of EAC (Thermal & Coal Mining), MoEF&CC, 25-26 November, 2013
- ↑ In Maharashtra's Chandrapur, Speaking Tree Suggests Poll Results, Jaideep Hardikar, The Wire, April 5, 2019
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Response of Minister of Power, Lok Sabha, 28 december 2017
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 KPCL Annual Report, 2018-19
- ↑ Provisional Coal Statistics, Ministry of Coal, 2015-16
- ↑ Adani escapes liability even as CBI prosecutes others for similar coal fraud, Nileena M S, Caravan Magazine, 9 February 2019
- ↑ Rehabilitation of Displaed Villages in the Emta Coal Mines in Chandrapur, Pravin Mote, Land Conflict Watch, 3 December, 2019
