Four rail projects will be developed in Jharkhand and Odisha
The Coal Ministry, in view of cleaner environment in coal transportation, has given momentum in rail evacuation and also initiating new efforts to gradually move away from road movement of coal in country.
Planned construction of new broad gauge rail lines in Greenfield coal bearing areas, extending rail links to newer loading points and doubling and tripling the rail lines in some cases will enhance rail capacity considerably.
The Ministry has undertaken 13 railway projects to develop multimodal connectivity and identified missing infrastructure gaps for each project.
Four rail projects will be developed in Jharkhand and Odisha to facilitate movement of coal.
Construction of Tori-Shivpur-Kathautia Rail line, envisaged by Ministry under PM – Gati Shakati initiative, is likely to provide coal evacuation capacity of about 125 MT by rail and play major role in eliminating coal transportation by road.
The Ministry has achieved Rs.40,104.64 crore under the Asset Monetization plan during 2021-22, way above NITI Aayog’s target of Rs.3,394.
Following the 2022 review, the Ministry has also listed its projects:
To set up Coal Washeries (maximum lease period 30 years);
To set up Conveyor Systems (maximum lease period 30 years);
To establish Coal Handling Plants (maximum lease period 30 years);
To construct Railway Sidings (maximum lease period 30 years);
Rehabilitation and Resettlement of Project Affected Families due to acquisition of land under the CBA (A&D) Act, 1957 or other land acquisition laws (maximum lease period 99 years);
To set up thermal and renewable power projects (maximum lease period 35 years);
To set up or provide for coal development related infrastructure including afforestation (maximum lease period 99 years), hospitals (maximum lease period 99 years), project office (maximum lease period 30 years), etc.
To provide Right of Way (in case of railway line and highways 99 years, and in other cases maximum lease period 30 years or life of infrastructure whichever is lower);
Coal gasification and coal to chemical plants (maximum lease period 35 years);
Coal bed methane (CBM) extraction (maximum lease period 30 years or as may be allowed by the Government to the CBM concession holder); and
To set up or provide for energy related infrastructure.
A total of 1,428.191 acres of land sites were acquired during the year under section 9 (1) of the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act, 1957 for subsidiaries of Coal India Limited.
Land sites of 1,195.78 acres have been vested to subsidiaries of Coal India Ltd. fiinews.com
