1. No extraction or reduction of pillars shall be commenced, conducted or carried out except with the previous permission in writing of the Regional Inspector and in accordance with such conditions as he may specify therein.
2. An application, for permission under sub-regulation (1) shall be accompanied by two copies of an up-to-date plan of the area where pillars are proposed to be reduced or extracted, showing the proposed extent of extraction or reduction of pillars, the manner in which such extraction or reduction is to be carried out, the thickness and depth of the seam, the nature of the roof, and the rate and direction of dip.
3. The extraction or reduction of pillars shall be conducted in such a way as to prevent, as far as possible, the extension of a collapse or subsidence of the goaf over pillars which have not been extracted.
4. Save as otherwise provided under sub-regulation (5), no pillars shall be reduced or split in such a manner as to reduce the dimensions of the resultant pillars below those required by regulation 111 or by any order made thereunder, nor shall any gallery be so heightened as to exceed three meters.
5. During the extraction of pillars, no splitting or reduction of pillars or heightening of galleries shall be effected for a distance greater than the length of two pillars ahead of the pillar that is being extracted or reduced:
Provided that where pillar extraction is about to begin in a district, such splitting or reduction of pillars or the heightening of galleries shall be restricted to a maximum of four pillars.
6. The width of the split-galleries shall not exceed the width specified for galleries under sub regulation (4) of regulation 111.
7. The Regional Inspector may, by an order in writing and stating the reasons therefor, relax or restrict the provisions of sub-regulation (4) or sub-regulation (5) in respect of any specified workings to such extent and on such conditions as he may specify therein.
8. Where the method of extraction is to remove all the coal or as much of the coal as practicable, and to allow the roof to cave in, the operations shall be conducted in such a way to leave as small an area of uncollapsed roof as possible with due regard to danger from an air blast or weighting on pillars, and suitable means shall be adopted to bring down the goaf at regular intervals wherever possible.
9. Where the voids formed as a result of extraction are stowed with sand or other materials, the owner, agent or manager shall, on or before the 10thday of every month submit to the Regional Inspector a statement giving the quantity of coal raised and the quantity of sand or other material stowed in every district during the preceding month.
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