IMG asks CoalMin to give SAIL surface right to mine in J'khand

The Steel Ministry has asked its coal counterpart to expedite transfer of surface right to a coal block allocated to SAIL so that the PSU can adhere to the committed schedule of the mine development.
The direction comes in the wake of a meeting of high -level panel to address bottlenecks impeding steel projects.
Sitanala block in Jharkhand, with reserves of 109 million tonnes (MT) of coking coal, was alloted to SAIL by the Centre in 2007 for captive use. Coal India arm BCCL is, however, yet to transfer the surface rights to the steel PSU.
"The matter may be expedited by the Ministry of Coal within some specific time-frame," Steel Secretary G Mohan Kumar, who chaired the meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG), to review the progress of the steel projects said.

The Coal Ministry has assured that the issue would be taken up in the next board meeting of Coal India (CIL), as per the minutes of the meeting.
The Steel Authority of India (SAIL) representative has urged the IMG that "the matter of transfer of surface right from Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) in respect of Sitanala coal block is pending since long" and needs to be expedited so that the block could be developed.

Surface rights are the land owner's right to the exterior or upper boundary of the land and other substances below it.
Earlier, the Coal Ministry had asked SAIL to deposit a bank guarantee of Rs 57 lakh for delay in the development of Sitanala mine.

"In order to enable SAIL to adhere to the committed schedule for development of the block, we request you to kindly direct BCCL (Bharat Coking Coal Limited) to transfer the surface right of Sitanala block," SAIL had earlier said in a letter to Joint Secretary in the Coal Ministry, Vivek Bhardwaj.
Most of the actions like preparation of mine plan and its approval and obtaining environment clearance have been successfully completed by SAIL for starting commercial production from the block, it said.
"However, two activities -- grant of lease and transfer of land from BCCL to SAIL -- are under active consideration of Jharkhand government and BCCL, respectively," it added.

During the review meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Group on coal block held in October last year, both the issues --grant of lease and transfer of land from BCCL -- emerged as critical for development of the mine, it said.
In course of the review meeting, SAIL has reaffirmed its commitment to start commercial production from the block by April 2015.