[ Samshum Changmi ]
ITANAGAR, 20 May: Five civil society and community-based organisations from Kharsang in Changlang district have jointly petitioned to the environment, forest and climate change minister, calling for a fresh public hearing before mining operations resume at the Namchik-Namphuk coal block.
In a memorandum submitted to the minister on 15 May, the groups urged the state government to withhold the issuance of consent to operate (CTO) to Coal Pulz Pvt Ltd (CPPL) – the current leaseholder of the coal block – until a new public consultation is conducted as per the provisions of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006.
The Namchik-Namphuk coal mine was originally allotted to the state-run Arunachal Pradesh Mineral Development and Trading Corporation Ltd (APMDTCL), and subsequently reallocated to the CPPL
in 2023 following an auction under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015. However, the only public hearing held for the project took place more than two decades ago, on 2 December, 2002, with the mining plan approved the following year.
“At that time, the project-affected region was sparsely populated, and the understanding of local environmental impacts was limited,” the memorandum noted. “Since then, the population has more than doubled, with significant expansion in settlements, agriculture, and community infrastructure.”
Citing these demographic and environmental changes, the organisations asserted that the 2002 public hearing is no longer representative of the present-day situation. Proceeding without renewed public consultation, they argued, would violate both the letter and spirit of the EIA notification.
The issue came into sharper focus after the Urban Press published a report on 16 April, titled ‘Coal Pulz Pvt Ltd seeks consent to operate Namchik-Namphuk coal mine, likely skips public hearing’. The report revealed that the CPPL had applied for CTO from the Arunachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board (APSPCB), based on a revised mining plan that significantly diverges from the original 2003 version.
According to the groups, the revised plan proposes increased land use for roads and mining infrastructure, a reduced green belt, modified settling pond configurations, and drastically lower overburden and topsoil dump calculations – alterations which, they contend, necessitate fresh public scrutiny.
The memorandum also cited findings from the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI), which revealed that between 2007 and 2021, the APMDTCL and its private operator extracted over 1.73 million tonnes of coal, much of it from beyond the approved mining area and without any mine closure plan in place. This unregulated activity, the groups noted, has left behind an 8-hectare toxic, water-filled mining void – a “legacy of mismanagement and non-compliance.”
In their joint appeal, the organisations emphasised two key demands: to withhold the consent to operate until a fresh public hearing is held, and to ensure new public consultation.
“We believe that a transparent and participatory approach is critical, not just for regulatory compliance, but also to protect the long-term interests of local communities and ecosystems in Changlang district,” the memorandum read.
