In an innovative method, country?s largest coal producer, Coal India Ltd (CIL) wants to provide shares to people affected by coal mining projects (PAPs) after it lists on the bourses .
??Listing would gives the additional option under the resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) policy. Under this we have the extra facility built into our policy where we give displaced people shares in the company to lessen the feeling of loss by giving them ownership in the company,?? said Coal India Chairman PS Bhattacharyya. We don?t have any immediate plans to list the company but this is something we have in mind and will look to implement it someday, he added.
In the past CIL and its subsidiaries found it relatively easy to acquire land if they offered jobs in return. Partly because of this practice, CIL has built up a labour force beyond its needs, eroding its competitiveness. ??Our new policy is very different from the National R&R policy of 2007 and hope the policy of community engagement will ensure smooth acquisition of land,?? said Bhattacharyya.
The chairman added that if the company did get listed, it scripts will be attractive since the company is able to give high dividends of around 27%.As the new projects become operational, CIL and its producing subsidiaries plan to take total production up to 520.05 million tonne (mt) by the end of the 11th Plan from 379.49 mt now and up to 664 mt by the terminal year of the 12th Plan.
Of the production target in the 11th Plan, 186 mt is expected to come from existing mines, 165 mt from projects under way and 169 mt from the new projects. Likewise, during the 12th Plan, 151mt is expected from existing mines, 182 mt from projects under way and 321mt from new projects. However, much success of meeting the production demand depends on its strong R&R policy to silence its critics. CIL and its subsidiaries according to its R&R plan will offer monetary compensation or one time cash as announced by the state government. In case there is no policy of the state government for monetary or financial compensation in lieu of employment against land, the monetary compensation will be paid for Rs 2 lakh on first acre of land, Rs 1.5 lakh on second and third acre and Rs 1 lakh for land beyond three acres.
Affected people would also be given a shifting allowance and those who lose their homes or homestead would get a ready-built 150 sq m hour apart from the land cost and shifting compensation. Bhattacharyya said in 2008-09, the company would monitor all land restoration and reclamation work through satellite and a report will be prepared annually on the work done. The company has earmarked Rs 13 crore towards the project.