New Delhi, April 17 -- A major portion of the Deucha-Pachami-Dewanganj-Harinsingha coal mining project in West Bengal's Birbhum district would be executed underground, without requiring the eviction of homes or infrastructure, claimed officials from the West Bengal Power Development Corporation Limited (WBPDCL), the state's nodal agency for the initiative.

Officials said nearly 90 per cent of the proposed 3,400-acre (1,375.93 hectares) site would rely on underground mining, which they asserted would minimise environmental damage. Only 326 acres or 131.92 hectares - less than 10 per cent of the project area - were earmarked for open-cast mining, primarily to extract basalt and create access ducts to deeper coal seams, located around 300 m...