Govt amends norms to get approval for opening coal mines, gives power to cos
This story was originally published at 17:16 IST on 26 December 2025
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MUMBAI – The government has amended the provisions of the colliery control rules, 2004, to simplify the process of obtaining and granting approvals for opening coal and lignite mines, the Ministry of Coal said in a release Friday. The amendment removes procedural redundancies and enables faster operationalisation of mines, ensuring continued regulatory oversight, it said.
Under the amended provisions, the authority to approve mine or seam opening has been vested with the board of the concerned coal company. "This reform would streamline the approval process, while ensuring that compliance responsibility remains firmly with the company's highest decision-making authority. This reform is expected to reduce up to 2 months in operationalisation of mine," according to the release.
As per earlier provisions, a coal or lignite mine owner was required to obtain prior permission from the coal controller's organisation for opening a coal mine and for opening individual seams or sections of a seam. Permission was also required for starting a coal or lignite mine if it had not been operational for 180 days or more, according to the release.
The board of the concerned coal company can approve mine or seam opening after the requisite approvals from the Centre or state government and statutory bodies have been obtained. The company has to submit information about mine opening to the coal controller's organisation and for entities other than companies, such approval will continue to be through the coal controller's organisation, it said. End
Reported by Ashutosh Pati
Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury
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