Braj Kishore Bind

PATNA: Bharat Coking Coal Limited ( BCCL ) will soon start mining operations in Mandar coal block near Kahalgaon in Bhagalpur district which has a coal reserve of approximately 230 million tonnes. Besides, the process for granting sand mining licenses to prospective bidders in 11 districts of the state began on Thursday which will be completed by November 6, state mines and geology minister Braj Kishore Bind said here on Wednesday.

“District magistrates of 11 districts have started the process for allotting licenses to prospective bidders for sand mining pertaining to 312 ghats in Sone, Kiul and Falgu rivers,” the minister said.

The districts, along with the number of the ghats to be allotted for sand mining are Patna (43), Rohtas (47), Gaya (40), Bhojpur (74), Jehanabad (1), Arwal (36), Jamui (10), Aurangabad (40), Lakhisarai (11), Bhagalpur (1) and Banka (9).

Director, mines and geology department, Arun Prakash, said that one bidder would be given either two ghats or 200 hectares of stretch area on the river bed area.

Regarding commencement of mining operations in Mandar coal block allotted to BCCL, the minister said that Ranchi-based Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI) has been entrusted to prepare the project report. Further, an additional coal reserve of around 300 million tonnes has also been found in Pirpainty Barahat coal bloc in Bhagalpur district, he added.

“BCCL would certainly do the mining work in Mandar,” Bind said adding, “The company at present is also exploring the potential buyers of coal yielded by both Mandar and Pirpainty blocs as the available coal reserve is huge.” He also said that National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) would be the nearest potential buyer, besides others.

Prakash said that the revenue receipts of the department from sand mining and other resources has been increasing consistently. The percentage of actual collection against the target was 97.1 in 2015-16, 90.37 in 2016-17 and 97.30 in 2018-19, besides the dip of 80.20 % in 2017-18.

In quantitative terms, Rs 971 crore was collected against the target of Rs 1,000 crore in 2015-16, Rs 994 crore against the target of Rs 1,100 crore in 2016-17 and Rs 1,556 crore against the target of Rs 1,600 crore in 2018-19. During the current fiscal, the collection is Rs 181 crore till August. “We will meet the target. There would be no shortfall in revenue collection,” Prakash said.

