ANGUL: Impacted by the prolonged monsoon last year, coal production of Coal India Limited (CIL) is likely to fall short of target in the current fiscal 2019-20. The Central PSU has pegged production of around 610 million tonne in the year against a target of 660 million tonnes.
Newly appointed chairman of the Central PSU Pramod Agarwal told media persons here on Thursday that coal production of CIL in the ongoing fiscal till date is 2.5 per cent less than last year.
“Production in the mines was hit by long periods of heavy rains last year. However, mining activities have picked up from December and we hope to do better in the remaining part of the fiscal”, he said. Agarwal, on his maiden visit to coal mining belt, said CIL is working hard to achieve the set target of producing 1 billion tonne coal by the turn of 2024-25 to meet the rising demand.
The chairman, accompanied by Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) CMD BN Sinha and Director (Technical) OP Singh inspected mining operations at Asia’s largest Talcher coalfields. He reviewed the production and dispatch of operations of MCL, which alone contributes 20 per cent of total coal production in the country. He was briefed about the current and future plans and prospects of the company by the MCL authorities.
During his visit to the coal mines, including Kaniha, Ananta and Hingula open cast projects and inspection of coal corridor, Agarwal interacted with the field teams and encouraged them. Earlier, he visited the most revered deity Maa Hingula’s temple and offered prayers.