‘Would not like to go back to era of coal shortages,’ says Minister
The Ministry of Coal would continuously recalibrate the sector’s output but there was no question of returning to the era of shortages, said Piyush Goyal, Minister for Coal, Power and Renewable Energy.
“We can’t go back to coal shortages,” he said, replying to a question on the need to review the one-billion-tonne production target set for CIL or even the 598-million-tonne target for this fiscal.
He said that both the production and the off-take targets were dynamic targets. Even as Coal India clocked a growth rate of 1.1 per cent against the 9 per cent projected at the beginning of fiscal 2017, coal stocks had risen to 50 million tonnes which is nearly 45 days’ production. Much of this is attributed to sluggish demand from power sector.
“Power demand and capacity are growing,” remarked Mr. Goyal saying that this was the reason why CIL cannot be allowed to return to days of coal shortages.
“Both power and coal are in surplus now.”
Safety review
A meeting of all the heads of the seven coal-producing subsidiaries of CIL as well as CIL Chairman was held here. A detailed safety review meeting was also conducted.
The meeting gained importance in the backdrop of last week’s coal mine collapse in Jharkhand, which has claimed 18 lives so far.
To a query as to whether such a major accident will lead to a rethink on contractual coal mining, the minister said while the government would await results of the investigation to see if there was any lapse on part of the mine operators, strong action would be taken to prevent such mishaps.
Union coal and power minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday ordered safety audit in all Coal India mines. A detailed investigation is also ordered on the accident at Lalmatia opencast mine under CIL subsidiary Eastern Coalfields (ECL) in Godda district of Jharkhand.
The DGMS will conduct safety audits with experts from Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR) on board. “We will not leave any stone unturned to ensure safety and may also seek services of reputed consultants,” Goyal said.
18 dead so far
A small mine patch, Lalmatia was operated by a contractor Mahalaxmi Industries. On December 29, a part of the mine where operations were on collapsed, thus burying contractual workers.
Addressing a press conference in the city the minister said that so far 18 dead bodies were recovered from the debris. He did not rule chances of rise in death toll. Coal India has already announced Rs. five lakh compensation to each affected family.
According to Goyal, the accident at Lalmatia doesn’t have much precedence in Indian mining history as a huge 600 metre long and 100 metre wide and 35 metre solid strata on which OB (over burden) was once dumped collapsed.
Extraction
OB is soil extracted to expose the coal seams. Normally, the quantity of soil far exceeds the quantity of coal. This is dumped in the mined area (behind the mine face).
To prevent slide, the soil is placed in a particular gradient which is referred as ‘benching’ by the miners.
A year-and-a-half ago, CIL found that the contractor had dumped too heavy a load on the rock and ordered shifting the OB to a safer place. The job was more or less done, when the rock collapsed. Workers engaged in shifting the OB material were buried under 2 million cubic metre debris.
“Accidents are not new in opencast mines. There is precedence OB dump collapse either due to improper benching or due to overload. The striking fact is the rock collapsed after the load was reduced,” a senior CIL official told BusinessLine. Directorate General of Mine Safety (DGMS), conducted an enquiry at Lalmatia a year ago and were satisfied with the measures undertaken by CIL.
Headless for long
Meanwhile sources blame the government for keeping ECL headless for too long, thereby impacting its operational efficiency. The last full-time chairman and managing director of the subsidiary retired on superannuation in May 2015.
Though the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) recommended Subrata Chakravarty, the then Director Technical as the next Chairman, as early as in October 2014; the Centre denied appointment due to some alleged corruption charges against Chakravarty. He was later proved not guilty.
But the company remained headless and was managed by part-time chairmen.
Currently, RR Mishra, the fulltime CMD of Nagpur-based Western Coalfields (also a CIL subsidiary), is handing the responsibility of ECL as “additional charge”.
Warm Regards
Anurag Singal
Sr Manager –Business Development
Essel Mining & Industries Ltd
14th Floor, Industry House
10,Camac Street –Kol-71
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