- Union Minister of Coal, Railways, Finance & Corporate Affairs, Shri Piyush Goyal on July 4, 2018 launched the Coal Mine Surveillance & Management System (CMSMS) and Mobile Application ‘Khan Prahari’ developed by CMPDI, Ranchi a Subsidiary of CIL and Bhaskarcharya Institute of Space Application and Geo-informatics (BISAG) at a ceremony at, New Delhi.
- As per the Minister both applications have been launched on Swami Vivekananda’s death anniversary and is a fitting tribute to him because Swamiji stood for highest levels of integrity.
About CMSMS
- The basic objective of CMSMS is reporting, monitoring and taking suitable action on unauthorised coal mining activities.
- The CMSMS is a web based GIS application through which location of sites for unauthorised mining can be detected. The basic platform used in the system is of Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology’s (MeiTY) map which provides village level information.
- The leasehold boundary of all the coal mines are displayed on this map. The system will use satellite data to detect changes by which unauthorised mining activity extending beyond the allotted lease area can be detected and suitable action can be taken on it.
- The CMSMS will also provide other important information like reclamation work being done by Coal India Limited which is being monitored every year by CMPDI using satellite data. Status of Environmental Clearances /Forest Clearances etc. are also linked for information in this system.
About Khan Prahari
- Khan Prahari is a tool for reporting any activity taking place related to illegal coal mining like rat hole mining, pilferage etc.
- One can upload geo-tagged photographs of the incident along with textual information directly to the system. Hence, both satellite data and human information will be used to capture information on the unauthorised mining activities.
- Once reported, the information will be automatically directed to the nodal officers to take suitable action on those activities. The complainant can also track his complaint through the system. The identity of the complainant shall not be revealed.
- This app can easily be downloaded in Android and IOS.
- The uniqueness of the system is that it uses satellite data as well as public input to capture information on unauthorised coal mining activities and also take appropriate action on them with due transparency.
