Secretary, Coal Ministry inaugurates Continuous Miner in WCL's Tawa underground mine

New Delhi: Today, on 26.09.2023, Continuous Miner was inaugurated in Tawa underground mine of the Pathakheda area of WCL. Shri Amrit Lal Meena, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Government of India, inaugurated the event through video conferencing.

CMD of WCL Mr. Manoj Kumar welcomed the guests at the inauguration ceremony. In his address, he explained in detail the importance of mechanization in underground mines and the utility of Continuous Miner in society.

He said that 2.89 million tonnes of coal was produced in the year 2022-23 through underground mining in Vaikoli, which is planned to be increased to 10 million tonnes per year by the year 2030. He further said that earlier, the first continuous miner was installed in the Tawa-II mine and the second in the Chhatarpur-I mine.

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He said that with this mechanization, the coal production of the Pathakheda area will increase from the present 12 lakh tonnes per year to 30 lakh tonnes per year by the year 2030.

He further said that due to the installation of Continuous Miner in Tawa-II and Chhatarpur-1 mines, there has been a reduction of Rs 1000/- per ton and Rs 2200/- per ton in the expense of coal production respectively. An increase of 25% in output per man shift (OMS) has been recorded in Tawa-2 mine and 214% increase in Chhatarpur-1. He said that in future too, technological initiatives will make it possible to reduce expenditure and increase profits and productivity.

Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Shri Amrit Lal Meena in his address congratulated WCO for this technical initiative. He said that only 4% of coal is produced in India through underground coal mining, which needs to be increased in line with the growing coal requirements of the country. He said that through this medium the problems related to land and forests will be reduced and production will expand.

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Chairman of Coal India Limited, Shri PM Prasad said in his address that increase in coal production can be achieved through extensive mechanization. He further emphasized on adopting modern technology like Continuous Miner in underground mines in Coal India Limited.

In the inaugural ceremony, WCL Director Technical (Operations) Shri J. P. Dwivedi, CMD's Technical Secretary Shri Tarun Kumar Srivastava, General Managers, Heads of Departments, Steering Committee members and senior officers were present. Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Coal, Mr. Nagaraju and Mrs. Vismita Tej, Executive Directors and CVOs of CIL, CMDs of subsidiary companies and senior officers joined through online medium.

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