Centre to provide support to SCCL to take up coal production at Naini

Union Coal Secretary Amrit Lal Meena on Saturday assured support and cooperation to Singareni Collieries Company Limited

Hyderabad: Union Coal Secretary Amrit Lal Meena on Saturday assured support and cooperation to Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) in operating the Naini coal block allotted to it in Odisha.

Amrit Lal Meena, who held a review meeting with the managements of new coal mines in Bhubaneswar, said that the Centre would support Singareni in operating the Naini coal mine.

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Naini coal block allotted to Singareni company has acquired all the permissions, hence, the environment & forest department should provide full cooperation to the company to start coal production, he directed the officials concerned.

Stressing the need to increase coal production, he said the consumption of electricity in the country was increasing, and accordingly coal production from new mines should be taken up. In order to reduce import of coal, the Centre has taken a decision to open new mines, the Minister informed.

SCCL Chairman and Managing Director N Sridhar said that stage 1 and stage 2 permissions have been obtained for Naini coal block and that all arrangements for coal production and transportation have been made and if counting and removal of trees in the mine area were completed quickly by the forest department and the site was handed over, the company could take up at least 50 lakh tonnes of coal production this year.

Responding to the request of Sridhar, Odisha Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena issued instructions to the officials concerned to take up the job immediately. Coal India Chairman Pramod Agarwal along with the senior officials of Mahanadi Coal Fields Limited and Northern Coal Fields Limited were present.