NCL Commissions a New Wharfwall - An Initiative Towards Environmental Conservation

NCL Commissions a New Wharfwall - An Initiative Towards Environmental Conservation

Singrauli: Northern Coalfields Limited commissioned a new wharf-wall at MGR route line of company's Nigahi coal producing area on Wednesday to reduce coal transportation by road.  The said route line is used by Nigahi for transporting coal to India’s largest power station NTPC Vindhyachal. The new wharf-wall will help supply additional 3-4 rakes (approximately 9000 to 12,000 tonnes of coal to NTPC Vindhyachal. The additional supplies of coal through wharf-wall will halve the transportation of coal from road thereby contributing significantly towards environmental protection.

The wharf-wall which is 750 metres long and 40 metres wide, will lead to more coal supplies to upcountry power consumers through railways. At present, NTPC Vindhyachal is supplied coal from Nigahi and Dudhichua coal areas of NCL with Nigahi being the primary feeder and Duchichua meeting additional requirement of the plant. With the introduction of wharf-wall, the additional supply of coal to NTPC Vindhyachal will now be met by Nigahi itself leaving Dudhichua with more coal at disposal. As a result, Dudhichua can now enhance coal supplies to upcountry consumers through railways as it is already equipped with infrastructural facility for rail mode of coal transportation.
 
Shri P.K. Sinha, CMD, NCL inaugurated the wharf-wall as Chief Guest and labelled it as a historic milestone in NCL’s ongoing journey towards environmental conservation and protection. He clarified that the company's priority is eco-friendly coal transportation and efforts are being made in this direction. A new CHP of 3.5 million tonnes at Block-B is ready and as soon as it connects to the railway line, there would be a further reduction in road transportation of coal. He also informed that new CHP’s at Jayant and Dudhichua of capacity 15 million tonne and 10 million tonne respectively is in the process to be constructed. Construction of Krishnashila CHP is almost complete and new CHP of 5.5 million tonne and 4.5 million tonne at Bina and Block B respectively is also proposed. The introduction of  said infrastructure will further reduce coal transportation through road. Likewise, a new CHP of 6 million tonne at Khadia has significantly reduced the supply of coal to LANCO from the road.
 
Shri Gunadhar Pandey, Director (Technical & Operations) NCL, Shri P.M. Prasad, Director (Technical, Project and Planning), NCL, Shri A.K. Tiwari Executive Director NTPC Vindhyachal, NCL JCC Member Shri Ashok Dubey and General Secretary CMOAI Shri Sarvesh Singh along with Area General Managers of NCL, departmental heads were present as guests of honour oin the programme.
 
Shri Gunadhar Pandey Director (Technical & Operations) while speaking comprehensively on new wharf-wall right from the seeding of the idea to the process of construction of wharf-wall, expressed special gratitude to NTPC management for the cooperation in this endeavour of NCL. Shri P. M. Prasad Director (Technical, Project & Planning) congratulated team Nigahi for the historic initiative. It is worth mentioning that it is the first time when a wharf-wall is created on MGR line. One such wharf-wall is also being built on the Amlohri MGR line which will help in additional supplies to NTPC Rihand power station.
 
Shri S.K. Gomasta, General Manager Nigahi welcomed the guests in the program and Project Officer Shri Harish Duhan presented the vote of thanks.
 
NTPC Vindhyachal, country's largest power plant, is completely dependent on NCL for coal. In the last fiscal, NCL supplied 24.67 million tonnes of coal to the powerhouse which is more than the supplies under Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) for the said fiscal. In this way, nearly 68 per cent of the total coal requirement of this powerhouse was completed by Nigahi and the remaining 32 per cent was completed by the Dudhichua. Nigahi supplied about 92 per cent of its total coal production to this powerhouse and the rest was supplied by the road. With the construction of this wharf-wall, transportation of coal through road will be halved. Notably, in coal evacuation terminology, wharf-wall is a kind of infrastructural facility constructed to load coal to railway wagons for onward transportation to end consumers. 

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