Lok Sabha Question No. 1534 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-12-27
Subject: Unsafe Coal Mines
Ministry: COAL
Asked by: BHARAT SINGH, MANSHANKAR NINAMA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COAL

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1534 TO BE ANSWERED ON  27.12.2017

## Unsafe Coal Mines

## †1534. SHRI BHARAT SINGH:

## SHRI MANSHANKAR NINAMA:

Will the Minister of COAL be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has decided to close down coal mines in the country which have been declared as unsafe;
- (b) if so, the State-wise number of such coal mines; and
- (c) the steps being taken by the Government to improve security in mining operations?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF COAL AND  RAILWAYS (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a)&(b): As informed by Coal India Ltd. (CIL), it has envisaged to close down 37 unsafe underground (UG) mines in 2017-18. The State-wise number of such coal mines are as under:

|   No of Mines | State        | Under Command Area   |
|---------------|--------------|----------------------|
|             5 | W.B          | ECL                  |
|             2 | Jharkhand    | BCCL                 |
|            10 | Jharkhand    | CCL                  |
|            05 | Maharastra   | WCL                  |
|            05 | M.P          | WCL                  |
|            07 | Chhattisgarh | SECL                 |
|            03 | M.P          | SECL                 |

Out  of  these  37  UG  mines,  28  mines  are  of  High  Risk  and  the  rest  9  are  of  Moderate  Risk categories. Further, out of these, production from 27 mines have been stopped till date.

- (c):  Apart  from  the  provisions  as  mandated  by  the  Mines  Act,  Regulations  and  Rules  thereunder,  the following  steps  being  taken  by  Coal  India  Limited  (CIL)  to  avoid  mine  accidents  and  to  improve  the standard of safety:
1. Safety Audit of all operating mines of Coal India Ltd. (CIL) through multi-disciplinary Inter-Company Safety Audit teams in 2017.
2. Online Centralized Safety Monitoring System 'CIL Safety Information System (CSIS)' developed and uploaded in CIL website.
3.  Imparting  Specialized  Training  by  SIMTARS,  Australia  on  Risk  Assessment  to  prepare  Risk assessment based Safety Management Plans (SMPs), Principal Hazards Management Plans (PHMPs) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
4.  Establishment of Geo-Technical Cell in all subsidiaries
5.  Site-specific  risk  assessment  based  SMPs  prepared  for  each  mine  of  CIL.  All  SMPs  are  being monitored through ISO of each subsidiary.
6.  Principal Hazards Management Plans (PHMP) formulated as a part of SMP.
7. Site-specific, Risk Assessment based Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all Mining and Allied operations framed and implemented.
8.  Assessment  of  stability  of  OB  Dumps  and  Benches  conducted  thoroughly  by  using  expertise  of CMPDIL and multi-disciplinary ISO teams in most of the opencast mines.
9.  Introduction of Gas Chromatograph for better accuracy in mine air sampling and Man-Riding system in UG mines having arduous travel.
10. Introduction of simulators based training to Dumper Operators, high mast towers for increasing level of illumination, deployment of Surface Miners for blast free mining, proximity warning devices, rear view camera, automatic fire detection in dumpers etc.

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