- India’s mine-closure framework has expanded in recent years, with new guidelines and initiatives focusing on scientific closure, ecological restoration, post-mining land use and community participation.
- Of the 147 coal mines identified for time-bound closure, 42 had been scientifically closed by the end of March.
- But residents and local stakeholders around the scientifically closed mines in Bokaro, Jharkhand, are unaware of any developments regarding these mines, abandoned long ago.
On July 24, barely 50 metres from the entrance to a coal mine in Bokaro, Jharkhand, smoke was rising from beneath the ground. A few trees around the spot were completely burnt, and the cleared patch showed signs of recent intervention.
Mining here, at the the New Selected (NS) Dhori Underground Mine (UG), stopped about 15 years ago, after reportedly extracting around 1.8 million tonnes of coal. But the mine was formally listed as scientifically closed only on March 25, 2026.
Santosh Nonia, 35, a resident of Makoli village near the mine, said dense smoke had started emerging from the same spot about three months earlier. He described it as a foul-smelling gas, followed by a major fire that burnt nearby trees.
Several senior officials visited the site, he said, and the fire was brought under control after water was poured continuously for three days. Villagers had suggested digging up the area and filling it with sand as a permanent solution, but their suggestion was not accepted, Nonia said.
“The smoke is still coming out. Very soon, it may become intense again,” he said, pointing towards the burnt patch.
Just two days before this incident, on July 22, the Ministry of Coal had released Aaroh, its first annual report on scientific mine closure and repurposing. The report documents the closure of 42 coal mines and showcases ecological restoration, post-mining land use and community-oriented interventions at the sites.
NS Dhori UG was the second mine in Jharkhand to be formally listed as scientifically closed, after Jarangdih UG mine, which was closed on March 31, 2025. Both mines are operated by Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), a public sector coal company.
“There is a need for a scientific closure,” said Biswajit Paul, a professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad. According to him, the voids, or the empty spaces after coal is extracted, left underground, need to be identified and appropriately dealt with, including through filling wherever required.
The problem, he said, is that mine operators may not have the technology to locate voids deep underground. The existing ground-penetrating radar (GPR) systems can detect voids only up to about 30 metres, according to Paul.
On the other side of the NS Dhori UG mine, a narrow dirt track branches off the main road and disappears into the greenery, its surface worn by the regular movement of vehicles. It leads towards the remains of the old mine, where the ground has been flattened as part of the closure process, yet it remains blackened. A structure still stands nearby, along with a temple.
Sumant Singh (name changed), 57, knows the mine well. A CCL employee who once worked at the NS Dhori UG mine was transferred to a nearby mine in 2005 but still uses the main road that passes the old workplace. Asked when NS Dhori had been scientifically closed, Singh, a resident of Karipani village, responded with a question: “When?”
He said official coal mining had stopped around 15 years ago, but people still extract coal from the area. “Have you not seen the road that the vehicles still use?” he asked. Singh said he did not closely observe coal extraction activities, but such activity was common and he had seen it as recently as a few months ago.
For Jarangdih Underground Mine, too, locals point to a much older timeline for closure and express unawareness of the more recent process officially described as scientific closure.
What closure looks like on the ground
Gulab Chandra, convenor of the Damodar Bachao Abhiyan and an environmentalist from Bokaro, said he had not seen any additional activity in recent months or years that would suggest authorities were undertaking anything substantially new at the mines.
Ajay Singh, vice-president of the regional committee and president of the Kathara area of the Rashtriya Colliery Mazdoor Sangh (RCMS), a major trade union representing coal mine workers, said, “We are not aware of any such development in recent years. In 2017-18, the workers were transferred, and the mine was closed because it had become loss-making, according to the official version. Mining stopped then. Since then, we are not aware of anything new happening in the area, and no labourers or local residents were ever contacted about it.”
The Aaroh report, however, records several closure and restoration activities at Jarangdih UG Mine, including dismantling mine structures, sealing mine entries, subsidence management, plantation and landscaping, and environmental monitoring.
According to the report, plantation and ecological restoration have been undertaken over 109 hectares, with around three lakh saplings planted. Agroforestry activities have covered another 6.86 hectares. For NS Dhori UG, the report mentions around 23,500 saplings planted over 9.40 hectares of reclaimed mine area.
Asked where the plantation had been carried out, AKB Singh, general manager of the CCL’s Kathara area under which Jarangdih UG falls, said the saplings had been handed over to the forest department for maintenance. The plantation, he added, had to be undertaken within CCL areas.
When asked whether CCL had consulted the local community about the mine’s closure, Singh said, “If we go to them and say that we want to close the mine, nobody will agree because their livelihood, directly or indirectly, is dependent on these mines.”
The Aaroh report claims that around 1,000 fruit-bearing saplings were distributed among local communities and villagers near the closed (NS) Dhori UG mine. Villagers of Karipani sitting together beneath a tree laughed when asked about recent developments and said they were not aware of any such activity. Asked whether CCL or anyone else had approached them for consultation, one of them named Budhan Singh said, no.
Chandra said that the authority should have discussed the closure plan with the community, trade unions and local groups to find a way to conduct activities that benefit both the organisation and local communities. Were they waiting for a government policy framework to engage with the community? he asked.
Paul goes on to say that mine closure should be discussed at the top management level and planned for the entire coalfield, rather than for a single mine or area. The plan, he said, should be linked to the district management plan, and the particular district requirement should be incorporated in the post-mining land use.
One question concerns the overburden, or the rock and soil layer removed for mining, that lies over a mining deposit. Environmental clearances specify how much of the mined-out area is to be backfilled and how much material can remain. But when trees are planted on overburden dumps and grow over several years, removing them later can require forest-related permissions. At the same time, leaving the overburden in place may limit the material available for backfilling.
“There should also be a public hearing to understand what local people want,” Paul said.
On condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, a senior CCL official based in Ranchi defended the approach, saying the mine-closure process had begun much earlier, while provisions for community engagement in mine closure were introduced only later. Now, the company had issued requests for proposals for eight mines, including three in Giridih, two in Bermo, two in Ranchi and one in Chatra, to assess the needs of communities living around the mines, he claimed.
However, a former CCL parking area near NS Dhori UG is being converted into a school, according to residents. Repurposing mine assets and infrastructure for community use became an explicit part of the mine-closure framework in the 2025 guidelines.
Planning for life after coal
India is the world’s second-largest producer of coal, mining around 1,047 million tonnes in 2024–25. As global scrutiny of coal intensifies and India advances its climate commitments under the Paris Agreement, the country faces a dual challenge: reducing dependence on coal while managing the environmental and social consequences of mines that have operated for decades.
There is evidence that mine closures can seriously affect local communities. A 2025 paper published in WIREs Climate Change noted that despite 123 mine closures since 2008, “there is little evidence of environmental remediation and land rehabilitation in many affected areas.” It cites cases from Assam, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh where mine closures contributed to livelihood losses, illegal mining and economic distress.
India’s mine-closure policy has evolved significantly over the past 15 years. The Ministry of Coal introduced formal guidelines in 2009, later revised in 2013, 2019 and 2020. The 2020 framework made mine closure an integral part of the Mining Plan, while revised guidelines issued in 2022 provided a framework for safely closing mines abandoned, discontinued or closed before 2009 and promoting the productive reuse of mined-out land.
The January 2025 guidelines broadened the scope of mine closure to include community development, livelihoods and post-mining land use. They require that at least 25% of the money set aside by mining companies for mine closure be spent on community and livelihood activities, while 10% of the final closure cost be earmarked for Just Transformation.
In 2025, the ministry launched RECLAIM, a framework developed by the regulatory body Coal Controller Organisation in collaboration with spiritual organisation Heartfulness Institute. It seeks to bring community participation, livelihood transition and ecological regeneration into mine-closure planning.
For Paul, however, meaningful participation cannot be achieved simply by adding it to a guideline. “If there is a mine and there is a 10-kilometre buffer zone around it, then while closing the mine, the companies should visit the villages that are dependent on that coal mine,” he said.
An underground mine may occupy a limited area under its lease, but its impacts can extend beyond it through water-table depletion and other forms of pollution. “You have to walk around the village to know about it from the people’s mouths,” Paul said.
The economic transition must also continue after mining ends. Employees may be transferred, and workers from relatively better-off families may be able to manage the transition themselves. But that is not the case for every resident. “We have to provide them with technical skills,” Paul said.
“So, closure is not a one-day affair. It has to continue even five or ten years after the mine has been closed. The mine was running for the last 100 years, how can you stop it in one day?”
Banner image: A mountain of waste generated from coal mining stands in the Kathara area of Bokaro district, Jharkhand. Image by Kundan Pandey/Mongabay.
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