Coal India Ltd's (CIL) unit North Eastern Coalfields is in the process to seek clearances to put two of its mines in operation Assam in this financial year.
The development assumes significance due to the efforts made to avoid the recurrence of power outages faced by India at the beginning of the summer season in this year because of the shortage of coal supplies. Once production starts from Tirap open cast project (OCP) of the North Eastern Coalfields in Assam, it will add 0.6 million tonne of coal supplies. The company is further in the process of getting approvals for the Tikak OCP in Assam which will produce 0.2 million tonne of coal. When both the mines commence production, the company will produce approximately one million tonne of more coal supplies. A major share of the coal produced from these two blocks will go for power generation. Coal mining at North Eastern Coalfields started their work once again after Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi inaugurated the operations at Tikak Colliery in March in Assam's Tinsukia district. Mining operations at North Eastern Coalfields were stopped pertaining to environmental issues in 2020. The resumption of mining operations at Tikak Colliery marks an important step in the development of the region. North Eastern Coalfields currently operates in Tikak Colliery in two opencast projects having a combined coal production capacity of 0.4 million tonne per annum. The coal mines in Assam and neighbouring areas have been controlled directly by CIL as a part of their unit North Eastern Coalfields. Image Source
