Coal Secretary Anil Kumar Jain has assured the Ministry’s cooperation in the expansion plans of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL), including allotting coal blocks in other States, so that the company could take lead in meeting the coal needs of Southern States.
Mr. Jain along with Director of Coal Department Mukesh Choudhary visited Hyderabad on Tuesday and had a meeting with the executives of Singareni. He complimented the efforts of SCCL for diversifying its business into thermal and solar power generation.
The Coal Ministry would extend its cooperation to SCCL to reach the target of 100 million tonnes of coal production per annum in the next five years by allotting new coal blocks. He commended the progress of the company during the last five years, including construction of rail lines in the mining areas for the movement of coal.
Power generation
Earlier, Chairman and Managing Director of SCCL N. Sridhar gave a power point presentation on the progress of the company during the last five years. He explained that the company had established a 1,200 MW thermal power plant and was in the process of setting up 300 MW solar power plants.
Outlining the company’s plans for taking up coal production in the Naini and New Patrapada coal blocks allotted to it in Odisha, Mr. Sridhar stated that they were planning to commence coal production in Naini by March 2021 with 5 lakh tonnes per annum target initially. To meet the growing needs of the fossil fuel in the country, Singareni had set a target of increasing the production to 100 million tonnes a year by 2025, he stated and requested the Coal Secretary to allot more blocks in other States to the company.
Director of Singareni S. Chandrasekhar, S. Shankar, B. Bhaskar Rao and N. Balaram, advisors D.N. Prasad, K. Surendra Pandey, Executive Director J. Allwyn, General Manager Anthony Raja attended the meeting with the Coal Secretary.