Government announces corpus of ₹ 40,000 for closure of mines | Today’s news
New Delhi: Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy on Wednesday launched the corpus round ₹40,000 crore for closing the mines in a scientific manner. The government has set a target of closing 147 coal mines in the next two to three years, according to a statement from the Ministry of Coal and Mines.
The minister announced this at the time of release AAROH: Annual Mine Closure Report in the national capital. The report follows 42 scientifically closed coal mines and shows how reclamation and community efforts have restored them to usable land.
He said the Coal Ministry has built a sustainable ecosystem for mine closure.
“For the first time, 25% of approved mine closure costs have been earmarked for community development, creating an investment potential of almost ₹10,000 crore over the next decade. The government has created a dedicated corpus of more than $5 billion (approx ₹40,000 crore) for scientific mine closure and phased mine closure, demonstrating its long-term commitment to environmentally responsible mining, ecological restoration and socio-economic development of mining-affected regions,” Reddy said.
Pact with Germany
Furthermore, the ministry also signed an implementation agreement with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the German development agency, for technical cooperation on “mines for closure”.
The ministry said the pact will strengthen cooperation between India and Germany in mine closure and regrouping. The 10 million euro project, supported by the German BMZ and co-financed by the EU, will last until 2030.
Coal Secretary Vikram Dev Dutt described mine closure as a critical stage in the mining life cycle where responsible resource extraction must transition to long-term environmental restoration, land repurposing and sustainable community development.
The collaboration will take place over the next four years and will focus on developing innovative and sustainable approaches to the closure and conversion of coal mines in India. This investment by Germany and the European Union reflects Team Europe’s strong partnership with India to deepen cooperation in sustainable economic development, a priority reaffirmed at the 16th India-EU Summit and the German Chancellor’s visit to India this year.
