BHUPALPALLY: With just three months to go for the end of FY 2020-21, the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) in Jayashankar-Bhupalpally district has achieved only 44 percent of its coal mining target so far. Though the SCCL had set a mining target of 38.90 lakh tonnes, it could only mine 9.39 lakh tonnes as on November, 2020.
SCCL authorities said that there were various reasons behind the shortfall, which include the lockdown and heavy rains. In Bhupalpally district, the SCCL has four underground mines under Kakatiya Khani (KTK) Coal Mines, in addition to two opencast mines. A total 6,000 workers are employed in three shifts every day at KTK. The SCCL had to halt mining for two months at KTK owing to the lockdown. Moreover, a total of 695 employees were infected by Covid-19. At present, the number of active cases in the SCCL stands at 43. Officials said that by this time of the year, coal production should have hit 22 lakh tonnes under normal circumstances.
SCCL Deputy General Manager, Bhupalpally, M Srinivas told Express that as of last month, the production of coal stood at 38 per cent of the target. “We have conducted meetings with the employees and their unions on the production of coal. We have now increased production up to 44 per cent. We will continue our efforts to meet the target,” he added.