Dr. Anil Kumar Jain, Secretary Ministry of Coal has said that Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL) is keen to promote sustainable coal mining which is getting reflected in the recent initiatives by the coal Miniratna. Dr. Jain along with Joint Secretary, Smt. Vismita Tej was on a visit to NCL to assess the overall performance of the Company.
While interacting with senior officials of NCL, the Secretary emphasised on the need to scale up coal production and dispatch in sustainable manner to make the nation self -reliant in the energy sector. He called upon to adopt innovative means in mining process to mitigate its impact on environment and urged team NCL to adopt business diversification strategies. CMD, NCL Shri Bhola Singh, DT (P&P), CVO and other senior officials were present.
Dr. Anil Kumar Jain also laid the foundation stone for a 50 MW solar power plant in the Nigahi Area. The plant will be set up over an area of 129.35 hectare land with a total power generating capacity of 94 million unit per year and will lead to reduce carbon emission by 78020 Tonnes per year. The generated power will be used for operational and other purposes by NCL. The company is set to achieve 273 megawatt power generation in the coming time from renewable sources to achieve the target of Net Zero.
Dr. Jain visited the Nigahi open cast coal mine and oversaw the mine operation. He also inspected the site of ongoing First Mile Connectivity Project (Coal Handling Plant) at Jayant Area. NCL is working on such nine First Mile Connectivity Projects with an investment of more than Rs 3100 crores out of which two projects have already been completed. With completion of these FMC projects till 2023-24, NCL will be capable to despatch entire coal produced through eco-friendly and mechanized mode.
Dr. Anil Kumar Jain and Joint Secretary Smt. Vismita Tej interacted with various stakeholders of the Company including coal consumers i.e. prominent power Gencos during the visit.
NCL produces more than 122 million tonnes of coal annually from its 10 highly mechanized opencast mines based in Singrauli and Sonbhadra district of MP and UP states.