Coal production increases by over 20 million tonnes for the second consecutive year
Team News Riveting
Raipur, April 1
South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), an arm of Coal India Limited (CIL), concluded the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) with historic results with the company’s coal production output surpassing 187 million tonnes (MT), which is the highest ever in a year since inception.
SECL has registered an annual increase of over 20 million tonnes for the second consecutive year in FY24. It dispatched 180.5 million tonnes of coal to the consumers during the period, out of which the highest 147.5 million tonnes were dispatched to power plants in the country which is the highest ever dispatched to the power sector in a single year.
Overburden Removal (OBR) for FY24 stood at 323.5 MCuM with a growth of 22 per cent. Kusmunda became the second largest coal mine in India with 50 MT production. Megaprojects contributed significantly to SECL’s record production. SECL’s Kusmunda mine achieved annual production of 50 million tonnes, breaching the production target, making it the second largest coal mine in the country after Gevra.
Gevra crossed 50 million tonnes of coal production for the second consecutive year and the total production of the mine crossed 59 million tonnes. The company’s third mega project Dipka also registered a production of 33.42 million tonnes, surpassing the previous year’s annual production. The company’s Raigarh and Sohagpur Areas achieved their target production of 14.48 million tonnes and 6.03 million tonnes respectively.
SECL’s UG production stood at 12 million tonnes registering growth for the second consecutive year. It may be noted that under the UG vision, the company has encouraged the deployment of modern technology like Continuous Miner in underground mines, which is getting positive results.
Another milestone was added to the account of SECL’s Gevra mine in FY24 as the mine received environmental clearance for 70 million tonnes of production capacity expansion. With this, Gevra is now set to become Asia’s largest coal mine.
SECL sanctioned employment to a total of 707 land oustees in land acquisition cases this year, which is the highest in the last decade. SECL achieved the target of CSR expenditure on various social works under CSR in the last financial year. SECL CSR achieved its CSR target for FY24 and incurred 70 per cent of its expenditure in Healthcare & Nutrition against the target of 60 per cent as per DPE guidelines.
SECL started the “SECL ke Sushruta” scheme under CSR, under which 40 children from the company’s operational areas located in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are being selected and given free residential NEET-medical coaching.
In FY24, SECL agreed with HLL Lifecare Limited to open Amrit pharmacy in hospitals located in its areas of operation.
With the opening of Amrit Pharmacy, medicines related to serious diseases ranging from common diseases to cancer and heart etc. will be easily available at affordable rates to the public as well as SECL employees.
In the concluded fiscal, the company planted a record more than 10.77 lakh saplings in an area of more than 475 hectares against the target of 430 hectares, which is the highest among all subsidiaries of Coal India. Along with this, in the year 23-24, 20 MW ground mounted grid connected solar project in Bhatgaon area got commissioned and work was awarded to 4,000 KW roof-top solar projects at SECL headquarters and various operational areas. The company also started the deployment of around 15 electric vehicles in various operation areas.
Under sustainable development, efficient utilization of water from mines was encouraged. In the year 2023-24, about 258 lakh kilo liters of water from the mine was made available by SECL for irrigation and about 28.20 lakh kilo liters of mine water for domestic use.
In 2023-24 an agreement was signed between SECL and Pelma Collieries for operating the Pelma opencast mine under SECL Raigad area in MDO mode. The company’s 8 projects have obtained environmental clearance for capacity augmentation leading to an expansion of production capacity to over 19 million tonnes per annum. The Amera OCP mine under the company’s Bishrampur area was restarted after being closed for many years.
SECL topped among all coal companies under the Ministry of Coal with procurement of over Rs 52,000 crore from GeM portal in FY 23-24. The company’s exchequer contribution stood at Rs 14,400 crore to its operating states Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
On the occasion of unprecedented performance by SECL in the financial year 2023-24, CMD SECL Dr. Prem Sagar Mishra, Functional Directors, and CVO congratulated everyone by cutting the cake in the presence of various department heads, labor union representatives, officers-employees. CMD Dr. Mishra congratulated and expressed gratitude towards various stakeholders, the Government and their various agencies, Coal India Limited, Directorate General of Mines Safety, Department of Environment, Railways, SECL Board of Directors, SECL Steering Committee, Welfare Board, the security committee, the council and association officials, and all SECL officers and employees.
