Environment panel invokes precautionary principle, citing India’s unique hydrogeological conditions
India’s environment ministry expert appraisal committee has refused to lower the mandatory 300-metre depth requirement for underground coal gasification (UCG) pilot projects, dealing a setback to the Coal Ministry’s ambitious gasification targets.
The Coal Ministry had sought the exemption specifically for Eastern Coalfields Limited’s R&D pilot at Jharkhand’s Kasta (West) Block, pointing to decades of shallower UCG operations in Uzbekistan as international precedent.
The committee was unmoved. It ruled that India’s hydrogeological and geomechanical conditions are too variable to draw comparisons with foreign projects, and that groundwater contamination risks demand strict safeguards – not relaxed ones.
The decision complicates the government’s Coal Gasification Mission, which targets 100 million tonnes of syngas production by 2030 from India’s estimated 378-billion-tonne coal reserves.
Energy analysts warn that capital-heavy fossil fuel investments carry long-term uncertainty against faster, cleaner electrification alternatives.
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