New Delhi: The Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS) has withdrawn permission for controlled deep-hole blasting at Bharat Coking Coal Limited's (BCCL) New Akashkinaree Colliery in the Govindpur Area of Dhanbad, Jharkhand. BCCL disclosed the order to the stock exchanges on August 19.
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The permission withdrawn had been granted under the Coal Mines Regulations, 2017. DGMS conveyed the decision in a communication dated August 17.
The regulator has barred any resumption without written clearance. "DGMS has further directed that blasting in the said area shall not be resumed without express and fresh permission in writing from DGMS," the company said in the filing.
The order does not stop at blasting. DGMS also told the company to follow directions issued by the Deputy Commissioner and Chairman of the District Disaster Management Authority, Dhanbad, in a letter dated August 14. Under those directions, the company said, "it has been directed to stop the blasting and mining operations till the affected area is declared safe after conducting a scientific study and evaluation."
BCCL said it is acting on the instructions received. "BCCL is undertaking appropriate steps in accordance with the instructions of the concerned authorities, including conducting the required technical study and seeking fresh permission at the earliest," it said.
The trigger was ground collapse at Chhatabad, close to the colliery. "The matter pertains to a land subsidence occurred at Chhatabad near New Akashkinaree Colliery," the company said.
The filing locates the collapse over disused underground sections of the same mine. "The subsidence has occurred over the abandoned IX Seam old underground workings of New Akashkinaree Colliery," it said, adding that "the affected land is owned by BCCL."
Separately reported accounts place the subsidence on August 6 and record damage to 24 houses at the site.
New Akashkinaree has a normative annual production capacity of 1.47 million tonnes.
Police in Dhanbad registered a negligence case on August 11 naming BCCL's Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), along with other officials, over the Chhatabad subsidence.
The suspension comes as the company's production run and its financial position have both weakened. BCCL reported a standalone net loss of Rs 68.09 crore for the first quarter of FY27 in results announced on July 22. The company had posted a standalone net profit of Rs 176.87 crore in the corresponding quarter of FY26. The year-on-year movement is a swing of Rs 244.96 crore.
Cumulative raw coal output for April to July 2026 stood at 9.00 million tonnes, down 21.1 percent from the same period a year earlier.
The monthly trend runs the other way. In production figures released on August 1, the company reported July raw coal output of 2.45 million tonnes, up 3.4 percent year-on-year. On the stated figures, the cumulative decline is therefore concentrated in the April to June months rather than in July.
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BCCL was listed in January. Coal India holds a 90 percent stake in the company.
