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Annexure-A

Point wise reply sought by the 42nd EAC (Thermal & Coal Mining Projects),

in respect of Amera Opencast Project expansion from1.00MTPA to

2.00MTPA, under Clause 7(ii) of EIA Notification’2006

Sl

No.

Additional Information sought by EAC

for further consideration

Action to be taken

1 The EC for Amera Opencast Coal Mine

Project of 1 MTPA in mine lease area of ha,

was earlier granted by this Ministry vide

letter No.J-11015/14/2004-IA.II (M) dated

22nd February, 2005.

Matter of fact.

The EC for Amera Opencast Coal Mine

Project of 1 MTPA in mine lease area of

664.184 Ha, was earlier granted by this

Ministry vide letter No.J-11015/14/2004-

IA.II (M) dated 22nd February, 2005.

2 The present proposal seeks EC for

expansion of Amera Opencast Coal Mine

Project with its production capacity from 1

MTPA to 2 MTPA in a mine lease area of

664.184 ha, which includes 51.989 ha of

forest land, 548.359 ha of agricultural land

and 63.836 ha of Government land. The

mine plan and mine closure plan approvals

for 2.0 MTPA is still awaited.

Matter of fact.

The mine plan and mine closure plan for

2.00MTPA has been approved. Copy of

the same has been already submitted

during EAC meeting held on 31.08.2015.

Copy enclosed as annexure-1.

3 The project report of Amera OCP was

approved by SECL Board on 25th July,

2002. The mine closure plan was approved

on 27th January, 2014. Instead of Kumda

a railway siding, a new centralized siding to

be constructed at Pendrakhi, which will be

constructed between 3 to 4 years and CHP

will be constructed by Amera mine. After

construction of Pendrakhi railway siding,

the distance for coal transportation will be

reduced from 53.8 km to 12 km. Since, the

mine life is 12 years and coal will be

transported from new railway siding in

future the CHP /Crushing arrangement be

put up at the Amera mine premises only to

To reduce the transportation distance from

mine to railway siding, in SECL, a

proposal for Construction of New Railway

Siding namely Pendrakhi Siding is under

Administrative Approval, to serve

Lakhanpur Coalfields taking off from

Bisrampur Railway Station in Bilaspur

Division.

The proposed Pendrakhi Railway

Siding would be very useful as it

would cater a number of mines

located in Lakhanpur Coalfields i.e.

existing Rehar UG, Gayatri UG,

Ketki UG, Amera OC & Amgaon

OC. It would also cater to the future

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avoid duplicity and cost reduction. projects such as Jamdai UG,

Ghumghara UG & Binkara UG.

The proposed Pendrakhi Railway

Siding would be useful in:

o Reducing the distance for

road transport of coal from

present running mines as

well as for future projects.

o Reducing the cost of

transportation.

o Improving the environmental

condition.

Crushing arrangements at the pit head site

will be provided very shortly. For

construction of Coal Handling Plant

Capital Provision for an amount of Rs.

23.874 Crores has been kept in the

approved RCE of Amera OC. CHP will be

commissioned by Dec.’2017.

4 The Coal Mine is sandwiched between

Ghunghuta river on the Eastern side and

Chandanai Nullah on the Western side.

The project proponent has planned to

make embankments along these water

bodies only on one side to prevent

inundation of the mine by flood waters.

The committee decided that the project

proponent should submit a detailed note

on possible flooding of the nearby areas

due to the proposed embankments. The

action plan is to be duly authenticated by

the Irrigation/Flood Control Department

of the concerned State.

As per approved Project Report, the HFL

of Ghunghuta River is 535m. During

detailed survey conducted along the banks

of Ghunghuta river, it has been found that,

the RL of the eastern bank varies from

542m to 549m and RL of western bank

varies from 541m to 569m. This indicates

that, both the banks are present much

above the HFL of Ghunghuta River, so,

there is no chance of inundation of nearby

villages by river water during flooding.

Moreover, the village Sukhri and Patrapara

are situated at a distance of about 2 KMs

on east side from the bank of Ghunghuta

river and having RL more than 555m.

Vide letter No. 4417/ work/ 2015/

Ambikapur dated 23.09.2015, Executive

Engineer, Water Resource Division, No.-1,

Ambikapur, Dist. Surguja, Chhattisgarh,

has indicated that, since 2004 to 2015,

there is no record of incidence of flooding

of any of the villages nearby to the

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Ghunghuta River due to heavy rain and

release of water from Ghunghuta dam.

Copy enclosed as annexure-2.

As per approved PR, the HFL of

Chandanai Nullah is 537m. The detailed

survey of both the banks shows that, the

RLs of eastern bank varies from 542m to

548m and RL of western bank varies from

540m to 546m, which is lying much above

the HFL of the nullah. Moreover, the

nullah is seasonal in nature.

The village Ghumghara is about 1.5 km

away from bank of Chandanai nullah and

is having ground RL about 559m.

Therefore, during rainy season there is

negligible chance of incidence of flood in

both the sides of the river/nullah and

thereby the villages.

The embankment for Amera OC will be

constructed around 60m away from the

bank of the river/nullah. Therefore, the

effect of the embankment during monsoon

season will be close to null on incidence of

flood.

5 A settling pond should be constructed for

mine water before its discharging to the

national stream, and its details to be

provided

Two nos. of Sedimentation tanks have

been constructed for mine water before its

discharge outside. Details are as under:

Primary settling tank

Size: 20mx12.3mx1.60m

Secondary settling tank :

Size : 24mx 10.0m x 1.60m

Photographs enclosed as Annexure-3.

6 Results of the pre-project health surveys in

the vicinity of the project area should be

provided in an appropriate format for

assessment of the status of health of the

community.

Any form of health survey has not been

done in Amera, Lakhanpur block prior to

2012, neither by SECL nor by the State

Govt. or any other agencies. But regular

health camps are being organized in this

area since Feb 2012 by Central Hospital,

Bishrampur SECL for the purpose of

health status assessment and remedy. Year

wise consolidated data from these health

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camps is placed as Annexure 4, 5 & 6.

During the period from February 2012

to February 2015, 34 health camps were

organized in and around Amera. Total

number of 2130 patients were examined

during this period. The common diseases

diagnosed in these camps are mentioned

below:

1. Acute respiratory tract infections (348

patients 16.30%)- (No cases of TB

detected)

2. Anaemia (314 patients 14.7%)

3. Acute Gastro enteritis (295 patients

13.8%)

4. Fever (Mostly viral or along with ARI

and AGE)- 207 patients 9.71%

7 Internal dumps (2 Nos) proposed in an area

of 450 Ha with a height of 7-8 m above

ground level be filled into mine void and

brought to near the original ground level to

minimize land degradation.

Agree to comply.

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Annexure-1 MINE PLAN/ MINE CLOSURE PLAN APPROVAL

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Annexure-2

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Annexure-3 SEDEMENTATION TANKS

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Annexure-4 DETAILS OF HEALTH CAMP-2012

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Annexure-5 DETAILS OF HEALTH CAMP-2013-14

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Annexure-5 DETAILS OF HEALTH CAMP-2014-15