Govt assures Coal India of 'full support', stresses learning 'new things'

Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi on Thursday assured Coal India of full government support, even as he said the PSU needs to learn "new things" for improvement in its future prospects.

The minister, who was speaking during the launch of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) of Coal India Ltd (CIL), said there will be full support to the company because it is the "backbone of the country".

"But having said that the improvement is a continuous process, learning is a continuous process....let us learn new things, new ideas, new approach, and new goal. And in this, the image of coal (sector), Coal India needs to be changed. We have to change the image of Coal India," Joshi stressed.

The ERP of CIL will help improve business performance and growth of the company with enhanced data integrity.

Stating that one and two subsidiaries of CIL were doing very good work, the minister said that other arms of the PSU should also learn from them.

"Implementation of ERP will help CIL in real-time decision making, improving efficiency and reducing costs. It will empower CIL to achieve 1 billion tonne coal production by FY 2023-24 and make it one of the most efficient mining companies in today's dynamic and ever-changing energy scenario," Joshi said.

Coal India accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal output.

ERP in Coal India will be implemented in two phases. The first phase launched on Thursday covers operations of CIL headquarters and its two subsidiaries Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL) and Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL).

The second phase will cover rest six subsidiaries and will be made operational by August this year.

The minister also presented 'Coal Minister's Award' to three coal companies of Coal India Ltd - Northern Coalfields Ltd (NCL), Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL) and WCL in a function held here.

The award has been instituted to promote best and sustainable practices for coal mining in the country.

The minister inaugurated a new Coal Handling Plant (CHP) at Krishnashila Coal Project of NCL via video conferencing. Having four million tonnes per annum (MTPA) coal handing capacity, this state of the art CHP will transport coal through conveyor belts and Rapid Loading system to Anpara Thermal Power Station (ATPS) of Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd and Renusagar Power Division of Hindalco.

CHP is part of CIL's 35 First Mile Connectivity (FMC) projects with over 400 MTPA capacity that the company aims to complete by FY'24 with a whopping investment of Rs 12,500 crore.

Coal Secretary Anil Kumar Jain, CIL Chairman Pramod Agarwal, NCL CMD P K Sinha, CCL CMD P M Prasad, WCL CMD Manoj Kumar and other dignitaries

were also present during the function.