Organization of strata management cell – a vital requirement

Abstract

Although efforts are being made in many coal mining areas to establish strata management cell as per recommendations of the 10th National Conference of Safety in Mines held at New Delhi 26-27th Nov, 2007, further modifications are required for its proper organization. This paper presents overview of problems of underground coal mining in India and the need of strata control investigations for improved safety, conservation and economy of the coal mining operations. In every coal mining company, strata control cell was expected to be established at corporate and area levels within November, 2008. However, till now strata control cell could not be established in all the coal mining areas as required. Instrumentation required for better understanding of strata behaviour around underground opening is presented besides approaches for design of strata control techniques. In view of the significant level of accidents due to roof and side falls in Indian coal mines, emphasis is made on the recent trends in geotechnical investigations for better understanding of strata behaviour in coal mines. Manpower requirement, type and number of some of the strata monitoring instruments to be made available at Corporate, area and Mine level are also proposed for effective organization of the strata management cell.