Coal India has enhanced its land acquisition budget by nearly two-and-a-half times to ₹60,000 crore to ensure production growth over the next four years.
Talking to reporters at the 41st Annual General Meeting, CIL Chairman Sutirtha Bhattacharya said the company needed an additional 20,000 acres (approximately 8,100 hectares), over and above the current holding, to reach the production goal of one billion tonnes.
CIL has acquired a total of 169,368 hectares till March 2015. Of this, about 106,827 hectares is in its possession and for which it has issued acquisition notice under the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act. Bhattacharya attributed the rise in budgetary estimates to sharp rise in land prices and higher payout towards rehabilitation and resettlement of the current owners of the land. The company also offers jobs to those from whom it acquires the land.
“We have increased out investment estimates from an earlier figure of ₹25,000 crore to ₹ 60,000 crore because land acquisition costs have increased,” he said.
The miner recently tied up with the Administrative Staff College of India to train its executives in understanding the nuances of rehabilitation and resettlement norms across States.