What are the tangible benefits from bringing coal, power and renewable energy under the same ministry?
The two Ministries, Coal and Power, are interlinked. Bringing them under a single Minister has enabled seamless coordination between these two critical infrastructure Ministries – and has enabled faster decision making.
What kinds of new technology are being brought into the process of coal mining to make that safer and more economic?
For opencast mining, adoption of large capacity shovel dumper units and draglines are being considered. In-pit crushing and conveying systems are also being planned for reducing the fleet of dumpers and improving the productivity wherever it is feasible.
Surface miners are being deployed on large scale as they avoid cyclic mining involving drilling and blasting. It is an environment friendly technology.
For underground mining, emphasis is laid on mass production technologies deploying continuous miners and longwall mining wherever it is found to be techno-economically feasible.
Manual loading is being replaced by mechanised loading by deploying Side Discharge Loaders (SDL) and Load Haul Dumpers (LHD) in conjunction with conveyer transportation. Man riding systems are being introduced in underground mines to improve productivity of workers and to avoid wastage of time and energy in walking long distances to reach the work place.
All the major open cast projects are being planned with rapid loading systems for loading railway wagons. All the coal being dispatched to power sector is crushed as per the requirement of the consumers. Further, coal washeries are being set up to address the quality issues and to comply with the environment regulations.
What are your strategies to ensure smooth and sustainable supply of coal to the power plants?
There has been a record increase in coal supply by 32 million tonnes in 2014-15, which is more than the cumulative increase of 31 million tonnes during the previous four years.
During the current financial year also, the rate of growth is more than 9%. This will be sustained as mine-wise plan has been prepared and is being executed.
Apart from those, Coal India Limited (CIL) is in constant touch with various stake holders, including Railways, to ensure smoother supply of coal to the users.
To what extent are we still depending on coal import?
India imported around 200 million tonnes coal during 2014-15. This was on account of increased demand in the power sector. However, with the increase in supply of coal, the imports have already started coming down.
How will you improve the scenario?
In view of the projected supply of coal within the country, import of thermal coal will come down further in the next couple of years.
What are your steps to stabilise the coal pricing for power plants?
Coal prices have been quite stable within the country and will continue to be so in the future as well. Decisions relating to coal pricing are taken in the context of its impact on power tariff.
What will be the benefit of offloading government’s stake in Coal India? Won’t that affect our power sector?
There is no move to privatise CIL. However, some of stake of the Government may be offloaded in the near future. There will be no impact on power sector, if and when, such offloading happens.
What steps are you taking to improve the coal mine workers’ safety and prosperity?
Coal companies have established internal safety organisations whose members regularly visit the operations for assessing the safety status – and advice the management for corrective steps, if any.
Safety audits are also being conducted through engaging experts in mines safety.
Standard operating procedures are being established to avoid unsafe practices in mines.
Through conducting of safety weeks and safety campaigns and imparting training, the awareness of safety is improved from time to time. Simulator based training is also being imparted to the operators of heavy earth moving machinery.
Risk assessment and management is the approach being adopted for reducing accidents and improving the safety of operations.
Role of Director General of Mines Safety in ensuring compliance of statutory provisions under Mines Act – and guiding supervisors and management in safety matters are also helping the industry in improving safety of mining operations.
The Standing Committee on Safety in coalmines, under the Chairmanship of Minister of Coal periodically reviews the status of safety in coalmines in the country – and issues are addressed for ensuring safety of operations and persons deployed in coal mines.
