The EAC after detailed deliberations observed that there are various non-compliance highlighted by Ministry’s Regional Office and also since obtaining EC of 14.4 MTPA in March 2020, PP has not yet received Consent to Operate from State Pollution Control Board. In a haste of achieving production target, PP should not overlook the compliance of EC conditions. PP however, submitted the information during course of minutes which is reported to be committed for compliance, but the committee desired for concrete and tangible action for further consideration.

Further, the air pollution mitigation measures proposed and committed during earlier expansion are not yet installed and only timeline is being proposed. It was observed that adequate pollution mitigation measures in project are still lacking in terms of transportation, plantation, dust control and water pollution. Therefore, the EAC after detailed deliberation was of the view that proposal requires further examination. In view of this EAC desired, that PP has to first focus on compliance of EC conditions. PP shall further submit the details on the following points.

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(i)     PP shall submit compliance of EC conditions which are still non-complied with proof/photographs. PP shall submit proper Action plan with Time Line

(ii)   Revised capital estimate for environment protection measures submitted by PP is inadequate and prepared inappropriately. Therefore, documents required to be substantiated on ground measures. PP shall submit measures taken on ground and then submits the enhanced protection measures

(iii) PP shall submit one-month noise monitoring data conducted at night time and vibration monitoring data, data of treated effluent from ETP.

(iv)  PP shall submit the riverine/riparian ecosystem conservation and management plan.

(v)    PP should show on a surface plan (5-year interval for life of mine) of suitable scale the area to be covered under afforestation & green belt clearly mentioning the latitude and longitude of the area to be covered during each 5 years.

(vi)  Plan for coal transportation from pithead to Amrapali Railway Siding through belt conveyer to be completed in 2 years with committed plan of actual status.

(vii)      Plan, design, alignment for diversion of stream and environment mitigation measures to be adopted along the diverted stream.

(viii)     PP shall submit Environmental Capital Expenditure by excluding Cost of rehabilitation. R&R cost should never be considered as Environmental expenditure.

(ix)  Environment Mitigation measures for the villages involved in R&R i.e. Manwatongri and Binglat till they are rehabilitated and other villages nearby.

(x)    Environment mitigation measures taken at Shivpur Railway siding and along the transportation till conveyor belt with silo loading is implemented.

(xi)  PP shall reply to concerns raised in PH specially on River water becoming dirty after CCL started work and Cracks being developed in houses due to blasting and pollution due to coal transportation.

The proposal is deferred in above lines

The EAC noted that since obtaining EC of 14.4 MTPA in March 2020, another expansion applied due available coal reserve. However, adequate pollution mitigation measures in project are still lacking in terms of transportation, planation and dust control. Therefore, the EAC after detailed deliberation was of the view that proposal requires further analysis. Also, it was observed that compliance in existing EC conditions are not adequately addressed. The dudhmatia stream which was required to diverted has not yet been diverted which is being polluting the Barki river (visible from kml file). The Committee noted that there are two cases pending in Hon’ble NGT. One is regarding non-compliance of EC conditions of EC dated 3rd January, 2006 and against EC dated 20th March, 2020 (expansion without public hearing). EAC desired, PP shall further submit the details on the following points. (i) PP shall submit compliance of EC conditions which are still non-complied with proof/photograph. (ii) The PP should come up with proposal/installation of continuous air quality monitoring stations with photographs. The photograph should bear the date, time, latitude & longitude of the monitoring station/sampling location. In addition to this PP should submit the original test reports and certificates of the labs which analyse the samples (iii) PP shall justify for considering two different emission factors source for AQIP modelling and further modelling has been conducted only for normative production capacity (iv) PP shall propose the measures to be taken for reduction of air pollution due to internal and external transportation of mine. (v) PP shall submit the specific mitigative measures for Dudhmatia Nala flow through the mining leasehold area. Detailed diversion plan along with its impact on Barki river shall be provide with allocated fund and timeline and likely Impact of mining on Chundru, Garhi river shall be submitted. (vi) PP should submit proper adequate response to public hearing issues with financial commitment and submit year wise breakup and timeline for Action Plan for addressing the issues. (vii) Fresh socio-economic study and study on flora and fauna shall be submitted since it is older than 3 years. Minutes of 7th EAC (Coal Mining Sector) held on 29th January, 2021 Page 43 of 85 (viii) The PP should submit the number of saplings to be planted, area to be covered under afforestation & green belt, location of plantation, target for survival rate and budget earmarked for the afforestation & green belt development. In addition to this PP should show on a surface plan (5-year interval for life of mine) of suitable scale the area to be covered under afforestation & green belt clearly mentioning the latitude and longitude of the area to be covered during each 5 years. The capital and recurring expenditure to be incurred needs to be submitted. Plantation plan should be prepared in such a way that 80% of the plantation to be carried out in first 5 years and for the remaining years the proposal for gap filling. The seedling of height not less than 2 meters to be selected and accordingly cost of plantation needs to be decided. In addition to this plantation in the safety zone at lease boundary the plantation should be completed within 2 years only. (ix) PP to submit R &R in respect of SCs /STs and other weaker sections of the society in the study area, a need based sample survey, family-wise, should be undertaken to assess their requirements, and action programmes prepared and submitted accordingly, integrating the sectoral programmes of line departments of the State Government. (x) Impact on nearby agricultural land and on biological Environment. Proper biological management plan needs to be prepared. (xi) Comprehensive Plan for supplying/distribution with piped water to the nearby habitation in villages/ settlements (particularly for habitation coming under zone of influence). (xii) PP should submit the quantity of surface or ground water to be used for this project. The complete water balance cycle need to be submitted. In addition to this PP should submit a detailed plan for rain water harvesting measures to be taken. (xiii) PP shall state the reason of high variation (% variation) of proposed production capacity between Normative and peak values. (xiv) Plan of OB Dumping and rehandling and management of enhance capacity to be given with proper layout (xv) Plan for coal transportation from pit head to Amrapali Railway Siding through belt conveyer to be completed in 2 years. (xvi) PP shall submit impact of blasting with adequate safeguard on nearby villages (xvii) PP shall submit additional provision i.e capital and recurring cost by proposing additional EMP measures including dust suppression as suggested by Ministry's Regional office The proposal was deferred on above lines