NCL to relocate its 927-ha Singrauli township that sits atop 600 MT of coal in MP

Singrauli (Madhya Pradesh): Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL), a subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL), is set to undertake a massive resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) project that will see the company relocating its entire township in Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh because it sits atop 600 Million Tonnes (MT) of coal. The township is spread over 927 hectares of land, its Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) B Sairam said. Commenting on the scale of this R&R project, the CMD said that it is going to be a huge project which will come with its own share of challenges as it will involve relocation of the entire Morwa township of NCL.

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“The good thing is that in this acquisition, people are ready to relocate. So, half of the problem is solved because the first resistance comes from the people only. Once the people are ready the only thing to decide is the rates of the compensation and R&R benefits,” the NCL CMD told reporters during a media interaction on Saturday.

NCL Morwa township R&R project: Phase I will see tenancy land being relocated

Sairam explained that the relocation project has been necessitated because the mining work in its Jayant coal mine is inching closer to Morwa township and will come within 500 metres of the residential area within the next two years, restricting the PSU’s mining operations. He said that the Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS) has stringent restrictions for undertaking blasts in coal-bearing areas within a 500-metre radius of residential areas.

NCL has already initiated negotiations with local people regarding R&R. “From the last six months we have been regularly negotiating with the people...based on the combination of past disbursements the mandatory provisions and the call taken by the people residing in these areas and what is being given by the private commercial coal blocks coming up in the region we have been able to reach a consensus and all the parameters of compensation and R&R are firmed up,” said the CMD.

The district administration is constantly helping NCL on this and the details of the first phase of the R&R needs to be chalked out, the NCL CMD said. “We have been given a deadline of April 2025, by which we need to initiate the first phase. We plan to start handing out compensation cheques by May,” he added. The phase-I will see the evacuation of people from 572.5 hectares of tenancy/private land, said the CMD.

NCL’s capex to jump multi-fold next fiscal due to R&R project

Sairam said that the company is expecting a big rise in its capital expenditure (capex) in the next fiscal year (FY2025-26) because of the R&R project. He said that a big chunk of its over Rs 4,000-crore capex in FY26 will go towards paying land compensation, which will be 1.6 times what it is expecting to spend this fiscal. NCL is expecting to end the current fiscal year with a capex of Rs 2,500-2,600 crore.

While NCL is still engaged in working out the finer details of the plan, including the financial implication, sources said that the Morwa township R&R project will be huge and is likely to entail an estimated expenditure of more than Rs 20,000 crore. The project will affect 30,000 families and will involve the relocation of 22,000 houses/structures. The total area for which the relocation is being planned — 927 hectares — includes 205.8 hectares of forest land, 572.5 hectares of tenancy/private land and 149.3 hectares of government land. NCL is planning to expand the capacity of Jayant coal mine from 30 MTPA to 35 MTPA by FY2026-27.

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