CIL Gearing Up For 1 Billion Tonne Coal Production Mark Government committed to increase coal production: coal secretary

Coal India (CIL), the Maharatna coal mining monolith had unveiled its roadmap, of strategies to be adopted, to attain the 1 Billion Tonne (BT) coal production mark by 2019-20. With the projected coal demand of the country hovering around 1,200 Million Tonnes (MTs) by 2019-20, at an envisaged growth rate of 7%, CIL is expected to chip in 1 BT, of which, 908 MTs is the expected contribution from the identified projects. This was stated by Shri S Bhattacharya, CMD , Coal India (CIL). He further added that the process of identification of projects to share the balance quantity, to top up the 1 BT mark, is also underway. The two CIL subsidiaries Sambalpur based Mahanadi Coalfields and the Bilaspur based South Eastern Coalfields are expected to play a pivotal role in CIL's quest of attaining the 1 BT production with 250 MTs and 240 MTs respectively , Shri Bhattacharya added. Earlier , Shri Anil Swarup , Coal Secretary said that coal ministry is committed to increase coal production in the country.

Shri Bhattacharya pointed out the key issues that the coal miner is basically relying on are timely completion of three critical railway lines and timely land acquisition and green clearances.

Elaborating further, Shri Bhattacharya said that important actions initiated are creation of Coal Project Monitoring Group (CPMG) portal for regular monitoring of project related issues with different ministries and State Authorities. To overcome the hurdle of coal evacuation, CIL had decided to purchase 2000 railway wagons from its own kitty for which a specific fund had been earmarked. The coordination with Railways for implementation has already been initiated. In a move to synergize its efforts SECL already has 2 Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) with State governments to develop rail network including last mile connectivity, involving Railways. More number of SPVS are on immediate anvil towards grounding railways infrastructure with Railways and concerned State Govt. participations, Shri Bhattacharya stated.

Shri Bhattacharya said that the strategies for future include Technology Upgradation in Opencast Mines with high capacity equipment , Operator independent Truck Dispatch System, Vehicle tracking system using GPS/GPRS, Coal Handling Plants (CHPs) and SILOS for Faster Loading and monitoring using Laser Scanners. As far as productivity improvement in Underground mines is concerned, Shri Bhattacharya said that the steps taken by CIL will include introduction of Continuous Miner Technology in large scale, Long-wall Technology at selected places, Man Riding system in major mines and Use of Tele monitoring Techniques.

CIL is also introducing a number of systems improvements that would help the company in realizing its challenging target. Use of ICT, remote sensing geophysical technologies and proper monitoring and evaluation methodologies will be the key features, Shri Bhattacharya added.

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