Work begins at Bengal’s Deocha Pachami coal mining project

Deocha Pachami Coal Mining project in West Bengal begins with basalt mining, promising jobs and fair compensation for locals.

Work on the Deocha Pachami Coal Mining project in West Bengal’s Birbhum district began on Thursday (February 6, 2025) with basalt mining or primary cleaning of land.

The move by Birbhum District administration came a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced at Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) that mining at the project site will start from February 7 (Thursday).

Birbhum District Magistrate Bidhan Ray, who arrived at the site of operations along with other officials at Chanda Mouza of Mohammad Bazar block, said that work has started on 12 acres of land, which is vested with the State government and thus no land acquisition is required. The DM said that basalt at the site has to be cleared first for mining the coal as the coal reserve lies under a thick layer of basalt.

“The coal mine which will be operational in the first phase will be underground,” he said. Mr. Ray said that the trees will be translocated and a primary school near the site will be shifted.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has claimed that Deocha Pachami is the second largest coal block in the world with a reserve of 1,240 million tonnes of coal and 675 MT of basalt that is expected to be mined.

The DM said that registration of workers who will be engaged in the mining work is going on at the local BDO office. He assured that people who have agreed to give up land will get benefits as compensation has been announced by the West Bengal government. He also added that jobs will be given to those who give up their land.

A section of landowners expressed anger and raised slogans on Thursday morning as the mining work was about to start for the project. They demanded that they be given jobs.