Cos asked to check rising number of accidents in mines

Concerned over increasing number of accidents and deaths in mines, the Coal Ministry today said it has asked companies, including Coal India, to take all steps to contain such fatalities.

"Coal Minister expressed grave concern over the rising trend of accidents and fatalities in coal mines. He stated that management of coal companies must take all the measures to contain such accidents," a ministry statement quoting Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, said.

The issue came up for discussion in a meeting of Standing Committee on Safety in coal mines held recently.

The minister also asked Coal India to inform the panel about the status of safety in the coal reserves of the public sector firm.

During the meeting, Coal India while referring to the rising accidents said that different steps including, training of drivers and setting up of simulators, were been taken to lessen accidents.

Last year, 262 cases of serious accidents were reported in Coal India. In 2009, the number was 248 and in 2008 there were 356 cases of serious accidents.

In Coal India, the number of serious injuries during 2008 was 363 followed by 252 in 2009 and 280 in 2010.