The Silicon Review ^Asia

Last fiscal, state-controlled Coal India Limited surpassed coal output of 600 million tonnes, and in order to curb down pilferage and illegal mining, the company is now relying on space technology and mobile apps.The coal ministry along with Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Application and Geo-informatics and the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology have developed a CMSMS (Coal Mining Surveillance & Management System) portal which will have geo-referenced and superimposed maps of the coal blocks and coalfield boundaries on the satellite remote sensing images.

The CMSES system is capable enough to scan through a region of 100 metres around the coalfield boundary and detect any unusual activity going on. Any such activity thus detected is labeled as suspicious, and the systemgenerates a trigger along with a reference number. The triggers are then analysed by specialist groups and transmitted for field verification to the concerned nodal officials.

As mentioned by a source familiar to the matter, reports of illegal coal mining can be sent to the CMSMS through the Khan Prahari app as well. As smartphones can be easily equipped with apps, with the Khan Prahari app, company executives can take geo-tagged photographs of any suspicious incident along with any textual information and use the app to report it directly to the CMSMS.

The CMSMS is also developed in a way that helps in offering important data like the reclamation work which is being monitored by CMPDI, a subsidiary of Coal India. In addition to that, environment and forest clearance status too is linked for information in the CMSMS system.