TALCHER: Chairman of Coal India Limited (CIL) Pramod Agrawal on Friday said, there is a need to produce more coal in the country because demand for dry fuel will rise in the post-Covid era.
On a one-day visit to Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) here on Friday, Agrawal said there will be a spurt in demand for coal to meet the energy requirement for revival of industry sector post-Covid restrictions.
The pandemic caused a sudden dip in demand which forced subsidiaries to slow down production and focus on other related works like removal of overburden and strengthening of infrastructure for coal transportation. But now, the country needs to produce more coal, he told mediapersons.
The CIL chief who inspected mining and coal evacuation operations at Talcher coalfields said the PSU breached the 650 million tonne mark in production during financial year 2020-21.
CIL is committed to fulfil the energy needs of the country and the emphasis is now on increasing production, he added.
Agrawal appreciated MCL for commendable growth in all major parameters of production, despatch and overburden removal. The annual target of CIL by the end of current fiscal remains at 660 million tonne.
Coal India produced 405 million tonne coal by the third quarter ending December 31, and the contribution of MCL was 101.8 million tonne.
“MCL has performed very well till now, but more challenges are ahead,” he said. On the day, Agrawal laid also the foundation stone of Bhubaneswari coal handling plant (CHP) phase-II which is part of the first mile connectivity (FMC) projects of MCL.
Bhubaneswari CHP phase-II, with estimated cost of Rs 247 crore, will have handling capacity of 15 million tonne per annum.
Agrawal ruled out formation of a separate coal company Brahmani. On the demand of truckers for road transport of coal, he said he would talk to customers about the issue.
Chairman-cum-Managing Director of MCL PK Sinha, Director (Technical/Operations) OP Singh and Director (Personnel) Kehav Rao accompanied the CIL Chairman during his visit to Talcher.