Team News Riveting
Ranchi, August 24
Trudging down in the Lodhna Area in Dhanbad, a landscape with lush greenery robotically invites ones attention.
The Gokul Park developed by the state-owned miner Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), an arm of Coal India Limited (CIL), is now developing into a farm. The huge overburden was once the identity and address of the place that BCCL had now converted into a Greenfield.
The site where people once avoided to glimpse is now turning to be an enchanting destination. Country’s largest coal producer had taken a big leap forward to explore the over-burden as business model as farming ultimate generate revenue for the local populace.
BCCL is cultivating maize over an area of 3000 square feet on an overburden dump at Gokul Park in Lodhna Area. It is not only helping in eco restoration and reclamation of a mined out area but is also creating income generation for the locals.
CIL is using ‘throw and grow method’ of seed balls made of mixture of clay, compost of grass and native shrub seeds as an effective and sustainable conservation tool for establishing vegetation and binding of the OB Dumps of BCCL this rainy season.
Another arm of the CIL, the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) is growing vegetables on an overburden dump at its Bharatpur opencast mine in Odisha in a unique initiative of reclamation of overburden dumps.
The company is also growing vegetables in “Panchvati Udyan” the backfilled area of Bharatpur OCP in Talcher Coalfields of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL).
The de-coaled area has been backfilled, carpeted with fertile top soil and Agro Horti Forestry is being developed at the site, which has been christened “Panchvati Udyan”. Vegetables like brinjal, okra, pumpkin, types of gourds, bitter gourd and chillies are now being grown.
Over 400 banana and 1000 saplings of fruit bearing trees like mango, guava, litchee, mosambi, orange, lemon, papaya, jack-fruit have also been planted.
MCL had witnessed a 42.6 per cent growth in overburden removal and produced 20.54 million tonnes (MT) of dry fuel till May 25 despite lukewarm demand from the consuming sectors due to COVID-19 led lockdown.
The development assumes significance as Coal India (CIL) has shifted its focus to overburden removal – the process of removing the top soil and rock to expose coal seams in its open cast mines – on account of slump in coal demand.
Overburden removal is an important performance parameter as it exposes the coal seam for future mining. It also lends mine stability.
