ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINES AND MINERALS
(SMT. RITA VERMA)
(a) to (b) During the last five years five committees
were constituted for subsidiary companies of Coal India
Limited, by the erstwhile Ministry of Coal. Government have
not incurred any expenditure on setting up of these enquiry
committees. The details of the Committees are as under:
1. A High level Committee under the chairmanship of
Secretary (Coal) was constituted in December 1996 to look
into the fire and subsidence problem in Raniganj and Jharia
coalfields of Eastern Coalfields Limited and Bharat Coking
Coal Limited.
Government have accepted the recommendations of the
Committee for implementation and accordingly 8 schemes in
respect of BCCL (4 relating to subsidence control and 4
dealing with fire) have been approved for a total cost of
Rs. 16.18 crores and are under implementation.
Stabilisation has already been under-taken at five unstable
locations of ECL and five more have been approved and will
be implemented shortly. Further two schemes â one each
for ECL and BCCL, approved by the government for
rehabilitation of affected people from fire/subsidence
prone areas at an estimated cost of Rs. 32.52 crores and Rs.
33.88 crores respectively, are at different stages of
implementation.
2. A Committee on longwall and other underground mining
technology in Indian mining condition was setup under the
Chairmanship of Sh. R.G. Mahendru, Ex. CMD, Central Mining
Planning and Designing Institute Limited in January, 1998
to look into the causes and circumstances for the premature
failure of power support face equipment at Kottadih mine of
ECL.
The recommendations made by the committee are under
consideration of the Government.
3. An independent committee under the chairmanship of Sh.
N.K. Sharma, Director(T), CIL was constituted in June 1999
to look into the details of incidence of fire at Madhuban
Washery of BCCL.
The report of the committee has been accepted by the
Govt. and forwarded to BCCL for implementation and for
taking action against responsible officers.
4. A High Power Committee under the chairmanship of Sh.
H.B. Ghosh, Ex. DGMS was constituted on 29.7.99 to look into
the details of accident at Parascole Colliery of ECL. The Committee is finalising its report.
5. A Committee for revision of norms for availability and
utilization of Heavy Earth Moving Machinery by coal
companies, was constituted on 7-5-1999 under the
Chairmanship of Additional Secretary, Department of Coal.
The deliberations of the Committee are continuing.
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