New Delhi: Ministry of Coal's Secretary Amrit Lal Meena during his two day visit to Chhattisgarh held high level review meeting with the top officials of the Chhattisgarh Government Raipur. With the officials of South East Central Railway (SECR) at SECL Headquarters in Bilaspur Meena took review of Chhattisgarh East Railway Limited (CERL) and Chhattisgarh East West Railway Limited (CEWRL) rail projects. The Secretary inaugurated ‘Chhal’ rail siding in SECL, Raigarh area and also took stock of the progress of two rail corridors being developed on Special Purpose Vehic le (SPV) model in the state.
Meena started his visit with a meeting with Chief Secretary of Government of Chhattisgarh Amitabh Jain at Mantralaya Mahanadi Bhawan in Raipur. The meeting was held to discuss issues related to ongoing mining projects of SECL and to ensure better coordination with the state government for more efficient operation of mines. Meena was accompanied by Ministry of Coal's Additional Secretary Vismita Tej and SECL's CMD Dr Prem Sagar Mishra.
The deliberations were centered around issues related to SECL's operations including environmental clearances, forest clearances, land acquisition, cooperation from the state government for rehabilitation and resettlement especially in respect of SECL’s mega projects such as Gevra, Dipka, and Kusmunda. During the meeting Coal Secretary emphasized on time bound completion of the projects with effective coordination with the State government and other stakeholders.
Gevra Mega project of SECL recently became the first mine in the country to achieve 50 million tonnes of coal production. It is currently being expanded to achieve 70 million tonnes of production which would make it the largest coal producing mine in Asia. Functional Directors of SECL along with higher officials from the state government were also present in the meeting.
On day two of his visit, Coal Secretary inspected the railway line being constructed from Gevra Road to Pendra Road under Chhattisgarh East West Railway Limited (CEWRL) project in SECL's Korba coalfields. He along with SECL CMD Dr. Prem Sagar Mishra and SECL Functional Directors inspected bridge no. 3 of Urga Kusmunda Connectivity Line.
This project will play an important role in the transportation of coal from SECL's mega projects operating at Korba coalfield. The project is 191 km long which includes the work of 135.3 km of main line. The project includes Gevara Road, Surakachhar, Dipka, Katghora Road, Bijhara, Putua, Mateen, Sendurgarh, Puttipakhana, Bhadi, Dhangawan and Pendra Road stations. Passenger facilities will also be developed at these stations along with the railway line in the entire corridor. The total cost of CEWRL project is about Rs 4970 crore and land acquisition and forest clearance for its main line has been completed. The project is likely to be completed by December next year.
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