Coal India subsidiaries need to achieve annual targets: Pralhad Joshi

Union Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi on Thursday said to meet the coal requirements of the country, it is necessary that all subsidiaries of Coal India Ltd (CIL) achieve their annual targets.

Joshi visited Western Coalfields Ltd headquarters in Nagpur and attended various programmes, said a press release issued by WCL. Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL) is one of the eight subsidiary companies of CIL, a central PSU. The minister also presided over a review meeting and took stock of the production, productivity and coal dispatch status of WCL, said the release. Chairman-cum-Managing Director of WCL Manoj Kumar briefed the minister on coal mining activities and assured the company would achieve the production target by the year-end. In order to meet the coal requirements of the country, it is necessary that all CIL subsidiaries achieve their annual targets, the release quoted Joshi as saying. He said to make the country self-reliant in the coal sector, it is necessary to strengthen the existing mining work and start new projects.

The minister assured all possible help from the Ministry of Coal for this purpose. Joshi emphasized on speedy work on land acquisition, environment and forest clearance and use of new technology for projects. He said WCL is playing an important role in meeting India's coal requirements, according to the release.