By DEBAJYOTI CHAKRABORTY
KOLKATA | 22 NOVEMBER 2025
As per the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi under the concept of Mining Tourism, a joint Inspection team including officials of the Ministry of Coal, Eastern Regional Office, Ministry of Tourism, Government. of India, and the State Tourism Department of Jharkhand carried out field visits at Baraka Sayal Eco Park & Patratu Coal Mines Area on 16th Nov 2025 for developing these spots into prime tourism destinations in the region.
:During the visit, the inspection committee assessed proposed sites at Hazaribagh, Patratu, and nearby tourist locations in Jharkhand to explore their potential under India’s emerging Mining Tourism initiative,” said Mr. Pranav Prakash, Deputy Director General and Regional Director ( east) of Indian Tourism in Kolkata.
After the successful completion of these field visits, a VC meeting was held on 17th Nov at CCL HQs, Ranchi with officials of the Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Tourism, JSTDCL, MCL, SECL, WCL, ECL & CCL under the chairmanship of the Additional Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Govt. of India, for a final review of all five identified Mine Tourism Sites in India.
A Tree Plantation Program was also organised at Baraka Sayal Eco Park as part of promotional activities by union ministry of tourism and union ministry of coal.
During the Jharkhand Tourism Roadshow in April this year in Kolkata, Mr. Sudivya Kumar, tourism minister of Jharkhand had said that the state is rich in minerals and has hundreds of open cast and underground coal and iron ore mines. “It possesses the richest iron ore reserve in Asia and the introduction of the mine tourism will further open up new vistas in the field of adventure tourism in the country,” he had said.
In countries such as Germany, United Kingdom and Australia, a few closed coal mines have been repurposed into tourist spots, cultural centres, reservoirs or for industrial purposes etc.
Incidentally, the state of Jharkhand has also come forward to start a mine tourism project recently and Jharkhand Tourism Development Corporation (JTDC) has signed a MoU with Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) for a five year period for the country’s
first ever coal mine tourism. JTDC will arrange a group tour of 20 tourists daily at the North Urimari Open Cast Mines in Ramgarh district, which is popular for its scenic beauty already.
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