The Adani Group has received the environmental clearance (EC) from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) for its underground coal mine at Gondkhairi in Kalmeshwar taluka, 20 km from Nagpur. This is the first mine of the Adani Group in Maharashtra.

The EC paves the way for the company to apply for consent to operate before the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB). The coal mined would be used to feed its power plant at Tiroda in Gondia district, apart from commercial sale of the remaining quantity. The project will entail a total investment of over Rs 1,300 crore, and will aid in creation of 2,000 work opportunities.

The mine is in the name of Adani Power Maharashtra, a group entity. The specific conditions mentioned in the EC include that the company will have to set up an in-house laboratory at the site to monitor environmental parameters like air and water quality, and also install solar lights along the road to be used for transportation of the mined coal. Besides, it will have to set up a village-wise water distribution system. The company will also explore the possibility of extracting methane from gases extracted out of the mine.

Spread over an area of 862 hectares, the mine has a total capacity of producing two million tpa (MTPA). The total geological reserves are estimated to be at 98.717 MT out of which around 43 MT are available for extraction. The Adani Group also has mines in Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand too.