The Ministry of Coal is in constant coordination with coal CPSEs to promote large-scale plantations on decoalized lands, capped landfills and non-coal containing lands. According to the latest assessment, during this financial year, coal companies have completed plantation on 2338 hectares. land, planting over 43 lakh saplings. In the last five years a total of 10,000 hectares. The area has been transformed into a plantation, using over 2.24 million saplings.
Prime Minister Shri Narenda Modi lauded the efforts of coal companies for reclaiming decoalized land through development of ‘eco-parks’, inaugurating Chhattisgarh Eastern Railway Corridor dedicated to environmentally sustainable coal evacuation.
Coal companies are undertaking mission-mode efforts to bioremediate available land. The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change has promoted that such plantations be counted towards the “compensatory afforestation” requirements. All the coal companies have therefore presented a notification proposal for approximately 2800 hectares to the respective State Forestry Corps. decoalised afforested land for notification as an “Accredited compensatory reforestation area”. This ACA area would count toward the future need for diversion of coal-bearing forest lands to undertake additional coal mining activities.
All coal subsidiaries have a dedicated cell for promotion of bio-remediation/plantation. The Ministry of Coal has accorded top priority to environmentally sustainable measures to ensure a just transition in coal-producing areas.
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DA/RKP