To check any further pilferage in coal mines, Coal India limited will now keep surveillance of its mining areas by drone cameras. Coal India limited Chairman Sutirth Bhattacharya during review meeting of CMPDI in Ranchi on Wednesday stressed on adopting certified technology and asked officials to use Drone surveillance in the mining areas.
“Through Drone surveillance, regular monitoring of mining areas will become easier for us as it is not possible for us to visit each and every site on regular basis. We can now simply send the Drones to the desired site and get report though the video recording done by it,” said a senior official of CCl requesting anonymity.
It will also become easier for the officials to remain update about any mining site which has been closed long back but there are fair chances of illegal mining from it, said Singh.
“Illegal mining is done mostly from closed mines….a close eye could be kept on such mines through Drones sitting back in our offices. Drones will also make it possible whether the dumped mines are still filled up so that action could be taken on time if any aberration is found in it,” said the official.
Another senior official from the mining side also asserted that Drones will help largely in operation control, whether the mines are operational or not; movement of heavy vehicles could also be controlled after getting reports from far away operational areas.
“Smuggling of the product could also be checked with the help of Drones as a close surveillance on the movement of trucks could also be done with it,” said the official. Besides that, Drones will also make it possible to keep pollution level under control, he said.
According to an official estimate, around 720,000 tonnes of the coal are being smuggled every year in Jharkhand, causing a massive revenue loss of up to Rs 600 crore annually. Around 18,000 people are involved in the illegal mining activities, transporting the coal on cycles.