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Coal India Ltd Converts 30 Mined Out Areas Into Eco-Tourism

Coal India Limited (CIL) has successfully transformed 30 abandoned mining areas into eco-parks and eco-tourism destinations, providing a source of income for locals and boosting the region’s green cover. Plans are also underway to create more such parks and restoration sites in CIL’s mining areas.

Eco-tourism Destinations

Some of the most popular eco-tourism destinations include Gunjanpark, ECL, Gokul eco-cultural park, BCCL, Kenapara eco-tourism site, AnanyaVatika, SECL, Krishnashila eco restoration site, Mudwani eco-parks, NCL, Ananta medicinal garden, MCL, BalGangadhar Tilak eco park, WCL, and Chandra Sekhar Azad eco park, CCL. These parks and sites offer various recreational facilities and attract a large number of visitors.

Green Cover Expansion

In addition to eco-tourism development, CIL has expanded its green cover to 1610 hectares, surpassing its annual plantation target of 1510 hectares for 2022-23. In the current fiscal, the company has planted over 30 lakh saplings, creating a carbon sink potential of 2.2 LT/year through 4392 hectares of greening inside the mine lease area over the last five fiscals till FY '22.

Techniques like seed ball plantation, seed casting through drones, and Miyawaki plantation are being used in various mines, with mined out areas and overburden dumps being reclaimed concurrently as soon as they get delinked from the active mining zones. Various species for biological reclamation are selected in consultation with central and state-aided expert agencies. Monitoring of land reclamation and restoration is being done through remote sensing, with around 33% area under green cover as of now.

CIL's initiative to convert abandoned mining areas into eco-tourism destinations and expand the region’s green cover has been highly successful, creating sources of income for locals and attracting a large number of visitors. The company's use of new techniques for plantation and land reclamation has also been instrumental in achieving its green cover expansion targets. With more such parks and sites in the pipeline, CIL is paving the way for sustainable development and ecotourism in the region.

 

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