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The Ministry of Coal released 'AAROH: Annual Report on Mine Closure', India's first comprehensive report on scientific mine closure, in New Delhi on 23 July 2026.
Union Coal and Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy announced a corpus of about Rs 40,000 crore for scientific closure of 147 coal mines over the next 2-3 years.
25% of the approved mine closure cost (about Rs 10,000 crore) is earmarked for community development over the next decade.
The Ministry also signed an implementation agreement with Germany's GIZ for technical cooperation on mine closure and repurposing.
Unlike simple abandonment, scientific mine closure follows a planned process — sealing mine openings, stabilising slopes, treating mine voids and overburden, and restoring the site for productive ecological or social use such as water bodies, green cover or community infrastructure.
Simple Analogy: Like properly decommissioning a factory rather than just switching off the lights and locking the gate — every hazard is neutralised and the site is put to a new, safe use.
GS Paper III > Environment, Mining, Government Policies
General Awareness > Government Schemes
The layer of soil and rock that must be removed to access an underlying mineral deposit, requiring management during mine closure
Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, which supports the GIZ mine-closure cooperation project