A new heartbeat for India’s mining heartland: Inside SECL’s record CSR year

Raipur: Divya Yadav, a 2.5-year-old from Anuppur, reaches out with her tiny hands for a bar of chocolate. Housed in the recovery ward of Raipur’s Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Hospital, she looks frail, but her eyes shine with quiet resilience. “Divya just underwent cardiac surgery for a rare Congenital Heart Defect (CHD). It was done just in time — and at no cost,” says her father, Deepak Prasad Yadav, a farmer from Madhya Pradesh’s Anuppur district. He says that his daughter was diagnosed at a screening camp organised in Anuppur by South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL). “I didn’t have to pay a single penny. I cannot imagine what would have happened if I did not get help in time,” says Yadav, eyes brimming with gratitude.

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So far, 120 children have received cardiac surgeries free of cost under SECL’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme ‘SECL ki Dhadkan.’ Since FY2024-25, there has been a big rise in the Bilaspur-based Miniratna Public Sector Undertaking’s (PSU) CSR spending. While the company spent Rs 53.07 crore on CSR in FY2023-24, the figure jumped around 239 percent to approximately Rs 180 crore in FY2024-25. Referring to SECL’s CSR expenditure for FY25, the Ministry of Coal said in a statement in March this year, “This allocation surpasses SECL’s statutory CSR budget of Rs 99.76 crores for FY24-25.”

“For SECL, the statutory limit is just a threshold, not a ceiling,” quips SECL’s Director (Personnel) Biranchi Das. Das took charge of the Director (Personnel) position in November 2023 and has been driving the company’s CSR expenditure in impactful projects around SECL’s mining areas. “We have a tagline: We reach the unreachable. These are not the children of our employees. We’re focusing on project-affected districts — areas that need us most,” says Das.

SECL ki Dhadkan

An extension of the broader ‘Coal India ka Nanha Sa Dil’ initiative, SECL ki Dhadkan began as a pilot in September 2024. Sixty children received surgeries in the first round. However, beyond numbers, the true impact of this initiative can only be gauged from the eyes of the parents who’ve watched their children suffer in silence — often without the means to afford treatment. Just over 100 kilometres away from Bilaspur is Raipur’s Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Hospital, which is the first dedicated centre for free pediatric cardiac care in the region that has been offering cardiac surgeries to children born with CHD since 2012 — free of cost. The hospital wards are full of parents whose stories would make for such a powerful antidote to all the cynics of the world who have given up on the idea that there exists a nexus of good.

Dr Nikhil Shukla, Programme Officer at Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani, lays out the glaring facts: “The birth prevalence of CHD is around 8–12 per 1,000 live births. That’s roughly one in every 100 babies. However, as common as it is, very few hospitals offer paediatric cardiac surgeries. It’s still a niche field in India. There are only about 20 training seats in this speciality across the country — two of them here. India has just 137 paediatric cardiac surgeons.” Why, one might ask, especially in a country with the world’s largest population? “Because parents can’t afford it,” Dr Shukla explains. “You can’t charge Rs 10 lakh for a surgery when families don’t have the money. Hospitals don’t find it viable,” he adds.

With the focus of CSR activities in CIL’s subsidiaries being on areas that fall within a radius of 25 km (in and around the mines/project sites), SECL began with screening camps in its operational areas, including Anuppur and Raigarh. The results were sobering. “Initially, we conducted screening camps in two of our project areas: Anuppur and Raigarh. And the number of children suffering from Congenital Heart Disease was found to be more than the national average,” Das says.

It is absolutely critical for children born with the defect to get a surgery as soon as possible. “CHD is a ticking time bomb. The brain becomes hypoxic, IQ is affected, growth becomes impaired… there can be several other life-threatening complications. While the timeline for getting surgeries will differ for different kinds of heart defect, on an average, most surgeries must be done within the first year of life. We are really grateful to SECL for deciding to fund some of these surgeries. Because if these kids do not get timely medical intervention, it is like a death sentence for them,” says Dr Ragini Pandey, Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Hospital.

“SECL ki dhadkan means that these children are our heartbeats,” remarks Das. After the pilot phase of 60 surgeries, the programme has been expanded into three phases, targeting a total of 1,000 surgeries. The total outlay is Rs 15 crore. Another 60 surgeries have already been completed under Phase I.

SECL ke Sushrut

Another flagship CSR project of SECL that is making an impact on the ground is Sushrut. ‘SECL Ke Sushrut’ is a free residential medical coaching programme that aims to provide coaching for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) to meritorious and underprivileged students from coal-bearing regions of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

Twenty-year-old Rishi Shekhar Pandey, who comes from Manendragarh district of Chhattisgarh, says that it was destiny that brought him to SECL’s residential coaching programme. He came to know about the initiative through an acquaintance who works at SECL. At the time, he was nearing the end of a difficult year (2022) spent studying at home, having enrolled in an online NEET preparation course with Physics Wallah for a modest sum of Rs 5,000.

“After spending a year preparing, I still hadn’t cracked NEET. The pressure to succeed was immense,” says Pandey. “Then this opportunity came up. I applied reluctantly. To my dismay, the exam centre was my school. I dreaded facing my teachers and answering why I was still stuck a year after finishing school. But I went ahead and gave the entrance test for the coaching programme. And I secured second rank in all of Chhattisgarh,” beams Pandey.

His father, a primary school teacher, earns Rs 10,000–12,000 a month. Without SECL’s support, Pandey says, coaching for NEET would have been out of reach. His All India Rank (AIR) in NEET 2024 was 73,972, and he is now pursuing an MBBS at Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences (CIMS), Bilaspur.

The same sentiment is echoed by Mamta Netam, a 21-year-old student hailing from Surajpur district. “SECL’s programme made coaching affordable for us. I had spent a year studying online through YouTube, but I don’t think I could have managed offline coaching without help,” says Netam, who is now studying MBBS at Late Baliram Kashyap Memorial Government Medical College in Jagdalpur.

Apart from affordability, both Pandey and Netam cherish what the programme gave them beyond academics. For Pandey, it offered exposure, motivation, personal care from mentors and officials, and a tight-knit group of friends. For Netam, the residential setup created the calm and focus she needed to prepare with single-minded dedication.

“There have been two batches of 40 students that have received coaching under this initiative. This year (2025), out of 40, 31 have cleared the NEET entrance exam, with 23 qualifying for government colleges. In 2024, out of 40, we had 39 students who cracked NEET. Out of this, 19 got into government colleges. So, the response has been heartening,” says SECL’s Director (Personnel).

But for many, getting into college wasn’t the end of the roadblock. “Some students who cleared NEET couldn’t afford admission fees. They’ve now applied to us for support,” Das says. “The mission would be incomplete if we stopped at just offering coaching. So, we’ll support students who’ve secured government seats — with tuition and hostel fees. A proposal is under review,” he adds.

Inspired by Sushrut’s success, SECL is planning to launch two new coaching programmes in 2025 under its CSR initiative — for CLAT and JEE Main aspirants from Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Project-Affected Families (PAF). “We’ll train 40 students for each,” Das says. “We’re currently looking for implementation partners. The aim is to give wings to our children,” he adds.

Other CSR projects

Then, there are other CSR projects of SECL that deserve a mention. In line with the national 100-Day Intensified Campaign for TB Elimination, SECL partnered with RK HIV & AIDS Research and Care Centre (Mumbai) to launch a Rs 3.82 crore project across Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. The initiative includes free TB screenings for 50,000 people and nutritional support for 300 patients.

In skill development, SECL has signed a Rs 3.12-crore MoU with the Apparel Training & Design Centre (ATDC), Gurugram, to provide vocational training for 400 underprivileged youth. The training, covering both residential and non-residential formats, will equip candidates with skills for the apparel and textile industry.

SECL has also funded a Rs 28.08-crore 3.0 Tesla MRI machine for Late Bisahu Das Mahant Memorial Medical College in Korba district — strengthening public health infrastructure in a region where access remains patchy.

In the coal-rich belts of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, SECL’s presence is slowly taking on a new meaning. Beyond minerals and machines, the company is beginning to be seen through the lens of lives changed and futures shaped. Its investments won’t fix every systemic gap — but in quiet wards, in village schools, and in new career dreams, they’re beginning to make a difference.

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