Coal Minister Piyush Goyal in a written reply to Rajya Sabha highlighted that the surplus land, which was no longer required by coal companies to be returned to state governments or be used for building solar power plants. The coal minister stated that the government after examining the issue of amending coal bearing areas (Acquisition and Development) Act to return the mined out land and the land acquired, found the land to be in excess of actual requirement to the state government for utilization after reclaiming them.
He highlighted that the protection of such land against the encroachment and maintenance involves unnecessary expenditure on part of coal companies, however if such land was transferred to concerned state governments then they could decide on the appropriate utilization of such land, which could probably be used for afforestation, public utility services, renewable energy projects, among other things.
However, the minister also emphasized that his ministry also was considering setting up solar energy plants on such lands. Notably, the government has set an ambitious target of generating 1,00,000 MW of solar power projects by 2022.
Start Research-backed Investing ...Now. Subscribe to Sapphire
MoneyWorks4Me is a SEBI-registered Investment Adviser (IA) dedicated to helping investors build long-term wealth through transparent, research-driven, conflict-free guidance. Founded in 2008, we started our journey as a Research Analyst (RA), providing deep fundamental analysis, intrinsic value insights, and long-term investing frameworks for Indian equities. In 2017, we transitioned to a full-fledged SEBI-registered Investment Adviser, strengthening our commitment to acting as a fiduciary—always putting the investor’s interest first.
To become India’s most trusted, research-powered fiduciary advisory platform—where every investor, regardless of experience, can make calm, confident, and well-reasoned investment decisions.
MoneyWorks4Me ensures this through: