New Delhi: The Central Government has appointed Coal India Limited (CIL)'s Chairman Pramod Agrawal (IAS) as a Designated Custodian to manage and operate Parbatpur-Central coal mine located in the state of Jharkhand. In a notification, the Ministry of Coal had said, "In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 18 of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 (11 of 2015) as amended by the Mineral Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 (1 of 2020), the Central Government hereby appoints Chairman, Coal India Ltd. as a designated custodian to manage and operate Parbatpur-Central coal mine located in the State of Jharkhand."
The sub-section (I) of Section 18 of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, says that on and from the appointed date, if the auction or allotment of Schedule I coal mines is not complete, the Central Government shall appoint any person as a designated custodian to manage and operate such coal mines as may be notified by the Central Government. As the designated custodian, Agarwal will act for and on behalf of the Central government in respect of the notified coal mines to operate and manage such coal mines in such manner as may be notified, till the completion of the auction of such coal mines.
The Parbatpur Coal Mine is a proposed 1.8 MTPA mine located in the villages of Parbatpur, Talgaria, Silphor, Nayaban, Tilatand, Tehsil Chas, and Village Talgoria, Teshil Chandankyari, Bokaro district in Jharkhand. The mine is a joint project of ONGC, Coal India and SAIL. In 2018, ONGC proposed to produce Coal Bed Methane (CBM) from the mine and set a target production of ~2 MMSCMD from all the four CBM Blocks, including Bokaro, Jharia and North Karanpura of Jharkhand currently in operation.
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