Govt to compensate affected people in Barapukuria coalmine area
M Azizur Rahman | Thursday, 26 June 2008
The government has decided to provide due compensation to the people affected by Barapukuria underground coalmining through building homes and developing infrastructure, officials said.
"We have already asked the authorities concerned to repair a road near the Barapukuria coalmine, which was affected by land subsidence due to underground coalmining," Petrobangla director for mines and minerals Maqbul-e-Elahi told the FE.
He said around 200 local houses have been identified for rehabilitation in phases as compensation for the damage caused to their homes by land subsidence.
State-owned Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd (BCMCL) has already initiated works to replace seven mud houses of the locals with tin-shed ones, said BCMCL managing director Abdul Aziz Khan.
Over 50 houses need to be relocated, he said.
The remaining houses will be relocated afterwards, the BCMCL top official said.
"The local people will be compensated properly so that they do not have the feeling that their livelihood has been deteriorated due to coalmining," the Petrobangla director said.
The government will try to improve the living standard of the affected people through providing necessary compensation, he assured.
The government has taken the decision to properly compensate the coalmine affected people as a number of investment proposals worth over US$ 6.0 billion are pending for several years mainly due to intensive debate over compensation issues, royalty and mining method.
The government, however, asked the investors to wait until the adoption of the country's first-ever national coal policy, which is at the final stage.
Officials said to reach a decision on the compensation packages the Petrobangla and the BCMCL have held talks with the local people.
Earlier in 2005, the Barapukuria coalmine triggered the first land subsidence when the Chinese consortium led by China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC) had just completed development of the Barapukuria coalmine, a senior BCMCL official said.
A number of villages and farm land was affected by the land subsidence.
The compensation for the land subsidence was, however, given by the BCMCL last year.
Underground mining method was adopted, first time in the country, for mining coal at Barapukuria coalmine in northern Dinajpur. It was developed mainly to run mine-mouth coal-fired power plant.
But due to fault in mining and subsequent fall in coal extraction the power generation from the coal-fired power plant hampered significantly over last several years, Petrobangla sources said.
"Coal extraction from the Barapukuria underground coalmine has peaked up since last year. As it has been geared up the incidence of land subsidence at the mine site increased," the Petrobangla official said.
Barapukuria coal is of world class quality and it is better than that of India, said a senior Petrobangla official.
The quantity of air-pollutant sulphur in the locally produced coal is around 0.50 per cent, whereas, it is around 3.0 per cent in Indian coal, said Petrobangla officials quoting a survey conducted by the Overseas Development Agency (ODA) of the UK.
Besides, local coal has much higher energy producing capacity compared to that of India. The burning capacity of local coal is 11,500 British thermal unit (btu), whereas it is 7,500 for Indian coal.
"We have already asked the authorities concerned to repair a road near the Barapukuria coalmine, which was affected by land subsidence due to underground coalmining," Petrobangla director for mines and minerals Maqbul-e-Elahi told the FE.
He said around 200 local houses have been identified for rehabilitation in phases as compensation for the damage caused to their homes by land subsidence.
State-owned Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd (BCMCL) has already initiated works to replace seven mud houses of the locals with tin-shed ones, said BCMCL managing director Abdul Aziz Khan.
Over 50 houses need to be relocated, he said.
The remaining houses will be relocated afterwards, the BCMCL top official said.
"The local people will be compensated properly so that they do not have the feeling that their livelihood has been deteriorated due to coalmining," the Petrobangla director said.
The government will try to improve the living standard of the affected people through providing necessary compensation, he assured.
The government has taken the decision to properly compensate the coalmine affected people as a number of investment proposals worth over US$ 6.0 billion are pending for several years mainly due to intensive debate over compensation issues, royalty and mining method.
The government, however, asked the investors to wait until the adoption of the country's first-ever national coal policy, which is at the final stage.
Officials said to reach a decision on the compensation packages the Petrobangla and the BCMCL have held talks with the local people.
Earlier in 2005, the Barapukuria coalmine triggered the first land subsidence when the Chinese consortium led by China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC) had just completed development of the Barapukuria coalmine, a senior BCMCL official said.
A number of villages and farm land was affected by the land subsidence.
The compensation for the land subsidence was, however, given by the BCMCL last year.
Underground mining method was adopted, first time in the country, for mining coal at Barapukuria coalmine in northern Dinajpur. It was developed mainly to run mine-mouth coal-fired power plant.
But due to fault in mining and subsequent fall in coal extraction the power generation from the coal-fired power plant hampered significantly over last several years, Petrobangla sources said.
"Coal extraction from the Barapukuria underground coalmine has peaked up since last year. As it has been geared up the incidence of land subsidence at the mine site increased," the Petrobangla official said.
Barapukuria coal is of world class quality and it is better than that of India, said a senior Petrobangla official.
The quantity of air-pollutant sulphur in the locally produced coal is around 0.50 per cent, whereas, it is around 3.0 per cent in Indian coal, said Petrobangla officials quoting a survey conducted by the Overseas Development Agency (ODA) of the UK.
Besides, local coal has much higher energy producing capacity compared to that of India. The burning capacity of local coal is 11,500 British thermal unit (btu), whereas it is 7,500 for Indian coal.