Team News Riveting
Ranchi, January 10
The coal mining division of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Limited has reported a 118 per cent growth in the overburden (OB) removal in the first three quarters (Q3) ended December 31 compared to corresponding period of the previous year.
So far, the captive mines have delivered 60.95 Million Metric Tonnes of coal to more than 22 power plants of NTPC. In the 3rd quarter of the current fiscal, NTPC has produced 5.79 Million Metric Tonnes coal, the highest ever production in a quarter and dispatched 5.42 Million Metric Tonnes to its power plants, which is the best ever quarter performance since inception.
Along with this coal production, NTPC has also attained the highest ever monthly OB removal of 89.16 Lakh cubic meter in December 2022 and achieved OB removal of 448.77 Lakh cubic meter in this fiscal compared with 206.08 Lakh cubic meter in the same period last year, with year-on-year production growth of 118 per cent.
OB removal refers to the removal of top-soil to expose the coal seams making it ready for mining. Any delay in this process impacts the future-readiness of the company to sustain output levels.
The Coal Mining division of NTPC is maintaining its growth trajectory and surpassed its earlier record in terms of coal production and sustainable quality fuel supply to NTPC power plants. With a coal production of 14.55 Million Metric Tonnes till December 2022 in this fiscal compared with 9.65 Million Metric Tonnes of coal production in the same period of previous year, NTPC has portrayed a phenomenal year-on-year production growth of 51 per cent.
The four operational coal mines viz. Pakri-Barwadih (Jharkhand), Chatti-Bariatu (Jharkhand), Dulanga (Odisha) and Talaipalli (Chhattisgarh) have contributed to accomplish the highest ever monthly coal production of 22.83 Lakh Metric Tonnes in December 2022 since inception.
The growth path for NTPC mining division has not been rosy. It is continuously facing numerous issues. With formidable leadership, spirited workforce and the constant support of District and State Administration, the roadblocks, mainly the agitation of some group of persons with vested interests, could be overcome. Further, with meticulous planning, resource mobilization, and regular monitoring, NTPC has achieved such substantial growth.
Mining division of NTPC is setting up one after another industry benchmarks for safe and environment friendly mining practices. After the successful implementation of e-SMP (Digital Safety Management plan), NTPC has implemented `Khanan Drishti’, an in-house web-app for shift-wise reporting of production and despatch,`Sachetan’ the safety mobile app for all of it’s mines, “Men-machinery tracking for Safety” in one of its mines as a pilot project. Further, projects like “Integrated coal management system” are also in the pipeline. Continual improvement of system & procedures and consistency with sustainability is the key to success for the Coal Mining division of NTPC.
