Central Coalfields Limited

Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) is a subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL), an undertaking of the Government of India. CCL manages the nationalized coal mines of the Coal Mines Authority, Central division. The registered and corporate office is at Darbhanga House, Ranchi, Jharkhand.

It presently has 63 mines (26 underground, 37 open cast) in areas of East Bokaro, West Bokaro, North Karanpur, South Karanpur, Ramgarh and Giridih. Their facilites include seven coal preparation plants, three for non-coking coal and four for medium coking coal. They earned their Mini Ratna status in 2007.

Environment Minister approves sixteen coal projects
On February 11, 2011 India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh approved a total of sixteen new coal projects that were on hold due to environmental regulations. Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal stated that the environment minister’s okay of Coal India's proposed coal mine projects was due to pressure from higher levels in the Indian government. The Coal Minister also stated that environmental regulations are one of the reasons why the growth of Coal India – which produces 80 percent of the country's coal – dropped to 2 percent in 2010, compared to 2009's figure of almost 7 percent. However, the Coal Minister said the areas off limits to coal mining would remain off limits, despite the likely increase in the country's coal use.

Open-cast Coal Mining in Indigenous Villages of Jharkhand
In June 2011, FoodFirst Information and Action Network (FIAN) reported that the expanding operations of Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) were posing an immediate threat to the survival of 1,000 indigenous people facing eviction from the village of Kusum Tola located in the North Karanpura region in the Indian State of Jharkhand. More than 1,000 sq km of the indigenous people of the region, the Adivasis, has been allocated to over twenty mines. Jharkhand has often been compared to Appalachia for its rich coal deposits.

According to FIAN, the expansion of open cast coal mining in the North Karanpura Valley directly impacts about 200 village communities that rely on the region to maintain their subsistence lifestyles. The Adivasis grow crops including rice, wheat, wild seeds, mustard and lentils, while supplementing their incomes with minor forest produce and seasonal labor work in the off-season.

CCL has mined coal in the region for over thirty years in projects including Dakara, Ray, Chura, Bachara, Manki, Piparwar and Ashoka. The Purnadih mine, which affects Kusum Tola and adjacent villages, officially opened on August 21, 2009. Eviction of the hamlets of Dembua and Baseriya had already been carried out, while Kusum Tola faces threat of eviction. FIAN said it has become common for those who protest against land acquisitions and human rights violations to be criminalized by the police.

FIAN believes the mining is a violation of the provisions of national laws and international treaties including the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the latter of which India ratified. Fian said the coal mining plans violate binding obligations to respect and protect basic human rights, including the human rights to clean food and water.

Citizens Groups Tracking Coal Power and Mining in India

 * Conservation Action Trust
 * Environmental Protection Group, Orissa
 * India Youth Climate Network
 * Jharkhand Mines Area Coordination Committee
 * Kalpavriksh Environment Action Group
 * Kuntala Lahiri Dutta Australia
 * Mines, Minerals and People
 * Samata

Related SourceWatch articles

 * India and coal
 * Coal India
 * Jharkhand Project
 * Tata Power
 * Tata Ultra Mega
 * India and nuclear power
 * U.S.- India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative
 * Global use and production of coal
 * Australia and coal
 * Britain and coal
 * China and coal
 * Colombia and coal
 * Germany and coal
 * Indonesia and coal
 * Japan and coal
 * New Zealand and coal
 * South Africa and coal
 * United States and coal

External Articles

 * "Bulu Imam: Researcher in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand" Blogspot, accessed June 2011.
 * "India's Hidden War: Inside the resource conflict you haven't heard about." Foreign Policy, Sep./Oct. 2010.
 * "Sierra Club India Trip" Sierra Club, April 12, 2011
 * Jeff Biggers, "India's Coal Rush: Interview With Jharkhand Leader Bulu Imam" League of India, March 6, 2011
 * "Jharkhand: A Disappearing World" Panos Pictures, accessed May 2011.
 * Ministry of Coal, "Coal Mining in India: The Past", Ministry of Coal website, accessed June 2008.
 * Ministry of Coal, 2007-2008 Annual Report", Government of India Ministry of Coal. (Large Pdf)
 * International Energy Agency, "Coal in India in 2005", International Energy Agency website, accessed June 2008.
 * U.S. Geological Survey, India 1994-2006
 * "India", World Coal Institute, undated, accessed June 2008.
 * Country Profile: Focus on India", Ecoal, World Coal Institute, July 2006.
 * Abhay Singh and Pratik Parija, "Coal India Seeks Faster Approvals, Imports, Overseas Miners", Bloomberg, July 1, 2009.
 * Jeff Biggers, "India's Coal Rush and Form of Mountaintop Removal: Interview with Jharkhand Leader Bulu Imam," Huffington Post, December 13, 2010
 * Srinivas Krishnaswamy, "SHIFTING OF GOAL POSTS: Rural Electrification in India: A Progress Report," Vasudha Foundation, March, 2010
 * Jason Miklian and Scott Carney, "Fire in the Hole: How India's economic rise turned an obscure communist revolt into a raging resource war," Foreign Policy, September / October 2010