Secretary of COAL Ministry inaugurated Chaal siding and flagged off rail rakes in Chhattisgarh

NEW DELHI- On the second day of Chhattisgarh tour on 19 May 2023, Coal Secretary Shri Amrit Lal Meena reached Chaal from Kharsia railway station in a power wagon where he inaugurated Chaal siding and flagged off rail rakes. SECL CMD Dr. Prem Sagar Mishra and SECL Board of Directors were present on the occasion.

In his address on the occasion, the Coal Secretary said that under the Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti Yojana, infrastructure related to the transportation of coal is being developed in the country and he is confident that this rail corridor will prove to be an important link in this regard. At the same time, he called upon the local administration and the present residents to give every possible cooperation in the supply of energy needs of the country.

Chhal siding has been constructed under the Chhattisgarh East Railway Limited (CERL) Phase 1 project and this will directly connect the Chhal mine of Raigarh area to the rail route and coal dispatch by rail will be done directly from here, which will save both time and money in coal dispatch will be saved.

The objective of the Chhattisgarh East Railway Limited (CERL) Phase 1 project, being built at a cost of more than 3000 crores, is to connect the Mand-Raigarh coalfields by rail. 

Under this total 124 km long project, 74 km long main rail line from Kharsia to Dharamjaigarh, 30 km long spur line from Gharghoda to Pelma and 20 km long feeder line for Chhal, Barod, and Durgapur are being constructed. .

Korba Coalfields is followed by Mand-Raigarh Coalfields in terms of coal reserves and as coal production expands, these rail projects will play an important role in dispatching more and more coal in times to come.

On behalf of the local administration, Raigarh District Collector Mr. Taran Prakash Sinha and Raigarh SP Mr. Sadanand Kumar and SECL Raigarh Area General Manager Mr. Hemant Sharad Pandey were present in the ceremony.

Inspected the progress of CEWRL project being developed in Korba Coalfields

After inaugurating the siding, Mr. Meena reached Chhattisgarh SECL Korba Coalfields to inspect the railway line being constructed from Gevra Road to Pendra Road under East West Railway Limited (CEWRL) project. 

He inspected Bridge No. 3 of Urga-Kusmunda connectivity line along with SECL CMD Dr. Prem Sagar Mishra and SECL Board of Directors. During this, he interacted with the officials to know about the progress of the project and gave necessary guidelines.

This project will play an important role in transportation of coal from the mega project of SECL operated in Korba Coalfield. The project is 191 km long, which includes 135.3 km of main line work. The project includes Gevra Road, Surakchhar, Deepka, Katghora Road, Bijhara, Putua, Matin, Sendurgarh, Putipakhna, Bhadi, Dhangawan and Pendraroad stations. 

Passenger facilities will also be developed along the railway line in the entire corridor as well as at the stations. The total cost of the CEWRL project is about 4970 crores and the work of land acquisition and forest clearance for its main line has been done. The project is expected to be completed by December next year.