A programme for exploration of 37 coal blocks included in the total 42 blocks has been drawn for exploration during the 12th Five Year Plan. The names of these blocks are as under:-
| S.No | Block | S.No | Block | S.No | Block |
| 1 | Mahajanbari | 11 | Tamla North | 21 | Tambia |
| 2 | Chandrabila | 12 | Kalyanpur-Badalpara | 22 | Patasi |
| 3 | Gandh- Bahera-Ujhaini | 13 | Kundanali Laburi | 23 | Bicharpur East |
| 4 | Domra-Panagarh | 14 | Tentuloi | 24 | Dahegaon Dhapevada |
| 5 | Saidu South | 15 | Sarapali Nuapara | 25 | Dhau North |
| 6 | Saidu North | 16 | Dharma | 26 | Kalambi-Kalmeshwar |
| 7 | Jilga-Barapalli | 17 | Duni | 27 | Bicharpur North |
| 8 | Barjora South | 18 | Surajnagar | 28 | Shahdol |
| 9 | Bishtupur | 19 | Kabitirtha | 29 | Karkoma |
| 10 | Pachwara South | 20 | Badam Dip Side | 30 | Mohan |
| S.No | Block | S.No | Block | S.No | Block |
| 31 | Meguli | 34 | Banai | 37 | Gawa |
| 32 | Sursa | 35 | Bhalumuda | ||
| 33 | Brahamani | 36 | Devcha-Pachami+Devanganj-Harisinha |
This information was given by the Minister of State for Coal, Shri Pratik PrakashBapu Patil in a written reply in LokSabha today
He said that the matter was taken up with Ministry of Enviro nment and Forests (MOEF) who agreed to allow exploration in 3 forest covered coal blocks namely Bijul in Singrauli Coalfields (Madhya Pradesh), Chirra North in Mand-Raigarh Coalfields (Chattisgarh) and Baitharani East in Talcher Coalfields ( Orissa) on trial basis to study the impact of such exploration on the flora and fauna on account of enhanced bore hole density.
He said that a meeting of Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) was held in MOEF on 16.8.2012 wherein the findings of joint impact assessment of all the three blocks were presented and FAC was briefed about the necessity of revisiting the existing guidelines. However, FAC did not consider it necessary to revisit the guidelines and decided to take expeditious decision on case to case basis for all the proposals pending for forest clearance as well as future proposals.
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