• Agrawal said that there is increased demand from industries for coal to meet their energy requirements as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted

• The Coal India CMD said that the coal miner would cross the 650-Million Tonnes (MT) production mark in financial year 2020-21

Talcher: While asserting that the demand for coal is going to rise post-Covid-19 pandemic, Coal India Ltd (CIL) Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Pramod Agrawal said that there is need to produce more coal. Agrawal, who was on a day-long visit to Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) on Friday, said, "Need of country is to produce more and more coal." He said that there is increased demand from industries for coal to meet their energy requirements as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. 

During his visit, Agrawal inspected mining and coal evacuation operations at Talcher coalfields. He said that Coal India is committed to fulfilling the energy needs of the country and has placed a lot of emphasis on increasing coal production.

Coal India will cross 650-MT production mark in FY2020-21: CMD

The Coal India CMD said that the coal miner would cross the 650-Million Tonnes (MT) production mark in financial year 2020-21. Coal India had produced 405 MT coal by Q3 ending December 31, 2020. And MCL contributed a total of 101.8 MT towards the total.

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Agrawal also lauded MCL for showing commendable growth in all the major parameters of production, despatch and over burden removal. "MCL has done very good till now, but more challenges are ahead," said the CMD.

Coal India CMD lays foundation stone of coal handling plant Phase II

During the visit, Agrawal laid the foundation stone of Bhubaneswari coal handling plant (CHP) Phase II work. The project is part of First Mile Connectivity (FMC) projects at MCL. Bhubaneswari CHP Phase-II, being built at an estimated cost of Rs 247 crore, will have coal handing capacity of 15 MTPA.

MCL CMD PK Sinha, along with Director (Technical/Operations) OP Singh, and Director (Personnel) Kehav Rao, accompanied the Coal India Chairman during his visit. The Chairman inspected coal mining and despatch operations at Bhuabaneswari OCP, SILOs in Lingaraj Area, Bharatpur Area and Hingula Area in Talcher coalfields. Earlier, at a meeting with the leaders of trade unions, Agrawal appreciated trade unions in MCL and acknowledged their constructive role towards the growth of the country.

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