224. Notice of commencement of extraction of methane.
(1)Whenever there is any proposal or intention to commence or start extraction of methane from any coal seam or coal measure strata or from any working or abandoned mines or part thereof, with an objective to exploit the methane or any other gases for captive, domestic or industrial purposes, the owner, agent and manager of every mine or coal block shall, not less than thirty days prior to the date of start of such extraction work, give notice in writing in Form I of the First Schedule, to the Chief Inspector and also to the Regional Inspector.(2)The notice so required under sub-regulation (1) shall be submitted along with a detailed project report prepared by an authorised agency or accredited institution having knowledge, experience and expertise in the required fields and subjects incorporating the following:-(a)the manner of extraction or exploitation work proposed to be undertaken and the organisation, agency and any other contractor by which all or the parts of the jobs are proposed to be carried out within such time period as planned or proposed;(b)details of machinery, equipments, instruments and apparatuses along with their specifications, parameters and all relevant information, that are proposed to be used;(c)persons and the category of persons including officials, competent persons, officers and staffs with organisation structure and chart clearly specifying duties and responsibilities thereof;(d)plan and section of the mine or of the coal block clearly showing the coal seams, coal measure strata, target seams and strata or the places from where the methane is proposed to be extracted, existing or old mine working showing their extent and all other details as required, present and future working from where methane as well as coal is or shall be extracted; and(e)plan and section of the area showing details of exploration work that is already completed and also the remaining area over which drilling or any other exploration work are yet to be undertaken.(3)The Chief Inspector may, by an order in writing and subject to such conditions as may be specified therein, require any alteration, modification and an additional requirements to be incorporated in the extraction plan or the project.(4)No extraction plan or project as mentioned in this regulation shall be started or undertaken unless a written order or approval in that respect is obtained from the Chief Inspector.
