CIL chief holds CCL meet to speed up mining clearances

Coal India Ltd (CIL) chairman Pramod Agarwal has asked the officials of its Ranchi-based subsidiary Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL) to expedite the process of obtaining environment and other clearances which are stalling the expansion and augmentation of its 13 key opencast projects across eight districts of Bihar. Agarwal this week conducted a review of the CCL and its ongoing and future projects as a part of CIL’s efforts to ramp up its annual coal production to 1 billion tonnes annually. A statement issued by the CCL said the review was primarily focussed on obtaining the necessary clearances for its open cast coal projects such as Magadh, Amrapali, Rohini, North Urimari, Karo, Konar, Kerketta, Kotre Basantpur, Rajrappa, Chandragupta, Tapin, KDH opencast, Sanghamitra and Pundi. Nine of these projects are brownfield projects while the rest are greenfield. While opencast projects such as Sanghamitra are yet to be operational, the existing ones such as Rajrappa are stuck due to land acquisition and clearance issues. There are other projects like the Chandragupta which will be operated in MDO (mine developer and operator) mode, which will entail complete outsourcing of operations. See also: Power sector’s dues to Coal India rise 10% to Rs 152. 52 bnCIL cancels maiden tender