New Delhi: To strengthen India's energy security and to realise the goal of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the Ministry of Coal has set a target to produce 1.3 billion tonnes of coal in the financial year 2025 and 1.5 billion tonnes by the financial year 2030 and to develop FMC projects for its evacuation. The development of coal transportation that is cost-effective, fast and eco-friendly is one of the important goals of India, said a statement. Keeping in view the increase in coal production in the future, and therefore, the need for evacuation infrastructure, the Ministry of Coal is working on the development of a National Coal Logistics Plan, which will include first-mile connectivity through railway sidings near coal mines and strengthening of the rail network in coalfields.
The Ministry of Coal has formulated a strategy to develop an integrated approach for eliminating road transportation of coal in mines and has taken steps to upgrade mechanised coal transportation and loading system under 'First Mile Connectivity' projects. Coal Handling Plants (CHPs) and silos with rapid loading systems will be capable of crushing, sizing of coal and speedy computer-aided loading.
Ministry of Coal has undertaken 51 first mile connectivity (FMC) projects (44 – CIL, 4- SCCL & 3 – NLCIL) of 522 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) capacity, out of which 8 Projects (6-CIL & 2-SCCL) of 95.5 MTPA capacity have been commissioned. These 51 projects will cost approximately Rs 18,000 crore. All these projects will be commissioned by financial year 2025. Since CIL has taken up new projects in production of coal, it has been proposed to take up additional 17 FMC projects with capacity 317 MT which will be implemented during FY20-27.
A study was undertaken by National Environmental Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur in 2020-21 to understand the environmental and cost benefits of FMCs. The report established yearly reduction in carbon emissions, reduction in truck movement density and significant savings in annual diesel consumption and cost.
FMC projects will reduce manual intervention, precise pre-weighed quantity, reduced loading time and better quality of coal can be loaded. Reduced loading time will increase availability of rakes/wagon. Easing the load on road networks promotes cleaner environment and savings on diesel. It will be an all-round win-win situation for the company, railways and the consumers.
(With PTI inputs)
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