Coal & Lignite Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), namely Coal India Limited (CIL), NLC India Limited (NLCIL) and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), have biologically reclaimed and afforested about 55312 Hectares (Ha) of land in and around Coal and Lignite mining areas upto FY 2023-24 as given below:

The estimated carbon sink potential of the greening initiatives is 2.77 million tonnes CO₂ equivalent. The greening initiatives of Coal & Lignite PSUs contribute to India's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) target titled “to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030”.

Ministry of Coal has set target for land reclamation and afforestation for Coal/Lignite PSUs under Vision Viksit Bharat for next 5 years as given below:

In addition to traditional methods of plantation, some of the innovative techniques being adopted by Coal & Lignite PSUs are seed ball plantation, Miyawaki planation, High-Tech cultivation, bamboo plantation, and drip irrigation for plantation on overburden dumps, etc.

Measures to ensure the long-term sustainability of reclaimed and afforested areas in Coal & Lignite PSUs focus on scientific reclamation, biodiversity conservation, and socio-economic integration. Initiatives include topsoil management, planting native species, creating wildlife habitats, and monitoring by remote sensing. Afforestation activities are mostly carried out by the State Forest Departments and State Forest Development Corporations in the Coal/Lignite PSUs. Reclaimed areas are repurposed for eco-parks, agroforestry, water sports, pisciculture and renewable energy projects. Afforested areas on non-forest land are also offered as compensatory afforestation (CA) land for forest diversion for coal mining projects.

This information was given by Union Minister of Coal and Mines Shri G. Kishan Reddy in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

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