Commercial coal mining to start new era of development in Chhattisgarh: Coal Minister

Additionally, commercial coal mining will contribute around Rs 250 million to the various District Mineral Foundation (DMF) funds of the state can be utilised for inclusive development of regions surrounding coalfields.

The union minister said that the Ministry of Coal had accepted the suggestion of Chhattisgarh government to change five mines with other three new mines put under commercial coal auctions in the state. He added that presently nine mines had been offered for commercial auction in the state.

Joshi also held a meeting with Chhhattisgarh Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel in the state capital of Raipur to discuss issues related to coal and other minerals were discussed. It was decided to get a proposal by a committee comprising of Coal India Ltd (CIL), Chhattisgarh government and Maharashtra State Power Generation Co. (MAHAGENCO) officials in 15 days for shifting of a railway line of Chhattisgarh East Railway Ltd (CERL).

A proposal by the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI) and officials of Chhattisgarh government for using mined out lands for dumping of fly ash will be submitted in a month?s time. The state will form a nodal agency to ensure supply of coal to the retail consumers of coal. Discussions were also held on ways to contain petty crimes related to coal in the state.

Joshi reviewed the performance of South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL). He acknowledged the hard work done by Coal Warriors during the coronavirus crisis. He interacted with the representatives of sponge iron & steel industry.

Stressing upon the importance of coal mining for Chhattisgarh he said that the state had the largest coal mine in Asia and it played a crucial role in fulfilling the power demands of country. Coal mining also helped Chhattisgarh in fulfilling its own aspirations for growth and development. In the last four years, more than Rs 132 billion had been paid to the state as part of statutory levies by SECL. Moreover, with enhanced coal production, SECL will pay around Rs 229 billion as revenue to the state?s exchequer in the next four years. SECL?s holding company, CIL had planned Rs 260 billion Capex for developing infrastructures across Chhattisgarh in the next four years.

Highlighting the efforts of government in building new infrastructure for rapid and smooth coal evacuation, Joshi said that CERL, a joint venture of SECL, IRCON International Ltd and Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corp. (CSIDC) is developing a rail corridor. CERL has incurred more than Rs 20 billion Capex till date.

The CERL rail corridor is meant for meeting the logistic challenges foreseen on account of coal evacuation to meet the growing coal needs of the country and providing the region with passenger train connectivity. This corridor has a total length of 193 km and is being developed in two phases.