Ib Valley/Talcher: October 15 : Union Coal and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal today stressed for increase in coal production and long-term planning to ensure adequate coal supply to consumers. The Minister was on a day-long visit in Odisha to inspect mining operations in both the Ib Valley and Talcher Coalfields of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), which has an ambitious target of producing 162.5 million tonne coal during the current fiscal.
Immediately after his arrival at Veer Surendra Sai Airport, Jharsuguda, Goyal left for inspection of Samleshwari Open Cast Project in Ib Valley Coalfields where the concerned officers briefed the Minister on coal mining and supply operations.
Taking a note of mine’s low performance following the delay in shifting of Y-curve sliding, the Minister directed both MCL and Railways officials to take up this project on fast track so that production from mines does not hamper.
We need to review mine-wise, regarding coal dispatch capability of the mines,Mr Goyal said, while suggesting for long-term planning of 20 years to over come bottlenecks and ensure adequate supplies to consumers.
The Minister, after his visit to Bhubneswari OCP and Ananta OCP under Jagannath Area in Talcher Coalfields, was hopeful of MCL achieving its uphill coal production target.
The Minister, who was warmly welcomed by a large number of villagers and their representatives, including local MLA (Talcher), assured that the increase in the coal production from mines would directly benefit the district and also help the state to execute more developmental projects.
The Minister was accompanied by Mr Inderjit Singh, Secretary (Coal), Mr A K Jha, Chairman, Coal India, Mr R R Mishra, CMD, MCL and other senior officers of his Ministries and Coal India/MCL.
MCL, which had produced over 143 million tonne coal during financial year 2017-18, plans to produce a record 100 million tonne from Talcher coalfields in Angul district and 62.5 million tonne from Ib Valley Coalfields in Jharsuguda and Sundergarh districts.
