Coal India arms NCL, CCL and WCL get the Coal Minister’s Award

New Delhi: Union Minister of Coal & Mines Pralhad Joshi on Thursday presented 'Coal Minister's Award' to three coal companies of Coal India Limited (CIL) namely Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL), Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL) and Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL) in a function held in New Delhi. The award has been instituted to promote the best and sustainable practices for coal mining in the country. Joshi also launched 'Project Passion' – the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) of Coal India Ltd (CIL) which will help improve business performance and growth of the company with enhanced data integrity.

NCL has been conferred upon the award for its outstanding performance in coal production & productivity, while its other arms CCL and WCL made it for adopting best safety practices and sustainable mining respectively.

"Coal Minister's Award 2020 has been initiated to promote sustainability and safety"

Speaking on the occasion Minister said. "Coal is and will remain the lifeline of our energy aspirations. India aims to become Aatmanirbhar in coal production with due care to safety and sustainability. The award has been initiated to promote such values. I congratulate the winners and hope the companies will set even higher standards of efficient, safe and sustainable mining in times to come."

ERP in Coal India will be implemented it in two phases. The first phase launched on Thursday covers operations of CIL headquarters and its two subsidiaries WCL and MCL. Phase-II will cover the rest six subsidiaries and will be made operational by August this year.

"Implementation of ERP will help CIL in real-time decision making, improving efficiency & reducing costs. It will empower CIL to achieve 1 billion tonne coal production by FY 23-24 and make it one of the most efficient mining companies in today's dynamic and ever-changing energy scenario," said Joshi.

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The Minister inaugurated a new Coal Handling Plant (CHP) at Krishnashila Coal Project of NCL via video conferencing. Having 4 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) coal handling capacity, this state of the art CHP will transport coal through conveyor belts and rapid loading system to Anpara Thermal Power Station (ATPS) of Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited and Renusagar Power division of Hindalco.

Krishnashila CHP is part of CIL's 35 first mile connectivity (FMC) projects with over 400 MTPA capacity that the company aims to complete by FY 23-24 with a whopping investment of Rs. Twelve thousand five hundred crores.

Minister expressed happiness over faster coal evacuation

"I am happy that coal companies are swiftly moving for First Mile Connectivity (FMC) projects that will improve the coal evacuation process and help protect the environment. This will not only lead to transparency but also make the lives easy for the people residing in and around mining areas," Joshi said.

Adding Krishnashila CHP, Coal India has successfully made three of its FMC projects operational with 30 MTPA capacity. Two projects, one each in SECL and MCL with a combined capacity of 26 MTPA are already operational since February and April last year respectively. The remaining 32 FMC projects are in different stages of completion and scheduled to be completed by the end of FY 2023-24. CIL at present does mechanized coal handling of over 150 MTPA. With the completion of all these 35 FMC projects, the mechanized coal handling capacity of the company will zoom to 550 MTPA.

Ministry of Coal's Secretary Anil Kumar Jain, CIL's Chairman Pramod Agarwal, NCL's CMD PK Sinha, CCL's CMD PM Prasad, WCL's CMD Manoj Kumar and other dignitaries graced the occasion.

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