CIL buys equipment worth Rs 2,000 cr

State-owned Coal India has bought mining equipment worth Rs 2,000 crore from foreign firms, including Caterpillar and Atlas Copco, to improve productivity of its Chhattisgarh mines.

"We bought these equipment at an investment of Rs 2,000 crore from companies like Caterpillar, Bucyrus, Atlas Copco. We have commissioned these sophisticated equipment at our leading mines in Chhattisgarh for improved mining," Coal India Chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya told PTI.

The mining equipment were commissioned at Dipka and the Gevra coal mines earlier this week, which together produces about 60 million tonnes of coal.

"These mines will comprise 15 per cent of the production target of our current financial year," he added. CIL has planned to produce 435 million tonnes of coal in 2009-10.

The demand-supply gap for coal in the country is estimated at around 70 million tonnes for the current fiscal and is forecast to double in the next two years.

The coal major has also lowered its annual production target for 2011-12 to 486 million tonnes from earlier 520 million tonnes on account of delays in securing certain clearances for its expansion projects. "Such equipment will help us remove the overburden on the mines, penetrate deep and help us to produce more," he added.