Anantkumar Hegde - Parliament

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF COAL

LOK SABHA

STARRED QUESTION NO: 362

ANSWERED ON:29.07.2009

PRODUCTION OF COAL

(a) the average coal production per annum from the underground and the open cast mines in the country,subsidiary-wise,quality-wise and quantity-wise;

(b) whether there is any proposal to increase the coal production from the underground mines;

(d) the steps being taken to increase production of coal by adopting cost effective techniques?

MINISTER OF STATE (IC) IN THE MINISTRY OF COAL AND MINISTER OF STATE (IC) IN THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS & PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION(SHRI SRIPRAKASH JAISWAL)

(a) to (d) : A statement is laid on the table of the House.

STATEMENT AS MENTIONED IN ANSWER TO STARRED QUESTION NO. 362 FOR ANSWER ON 29.7.2009 ASKED BY SHRI ANANTKUMAR HEGDE AND SHRI RAJIV RANJAN SINGH ALIAS LALAN SINGH REGARGING PRODUCTION OF COAL

(a) The average production per annum achieved from opencast (OC) mines in Coal India Ltd. (CIL) and Singareni Collieries Company Ltd. (SCCL) in 2008-09 was 2.32 million tonnes (Mty) each.Similarly the average production achieved from underground (UG) mines of CIL was 0.15 million tonnes (Mty) and in case of SCCL, it was 0.34 million tonnes (Mty).

Total coal production from OC and UG mines during 2008-09 was 434 and 59 million tonnes respectively. Raw coal production of Coal India Ltd. & SCCL during 2008-09 from underground and opencast mines, subsidiary- wise,quality-wise is given below :

I. Underground,Opencast and total Raw coal production for 2008-09

Figs in Million tonnes (Mty)

Company Total Total Total Under Opencast (UG +OC) ground

ECL 8.39 19.74 28.13

BCCL 4.13 21.38 25.51

CCL 1.56 41.68 43.24

NCL 0.00 63.65 63.65

WCL 10.11 34.59 44.7

SECL 17.57 83.58 101.15

MCL 2.15 94.19 96.34

NEC 0.05 0.96 1.01

CIL 43.96 359.77 403.73

SCCL 12.08 32.46 44.54

II. Grade wise Company wise production figures for 2008-09 are given in Annexure-I.

(b & c) : During the terminal year of X Plan (2006-07), the overall underground production of CIL was 43.32 Mt. The XI Plan Document has estimated a production of 54.56 Mt from UG mines of CIL during the terminal year (2011- 12), reflecting cumulative average growth rate of 4.72 %. Under the existing circumstances, on account of escalating land acquisition problem and depleting reserves at shallow depth, a renewed impetus to augment underground production has become imperative. In this backdrop, CIL constituted a three-member High Power Task Force (HPTF) to augment production from its underground mines. The committee has drawn a roadmap to effect further augmentation from a level of 54.56 Mty to 66.63 Mty i.e. a growth of 12.07 Mty by the terminal year of XI Plan (2011-12). For achieving the above production programme, CMPDI was entrusted with the responsibility of preparing an Action Plan in consultation with the respective subsidiaries. The Action Plan, inter-alia envisages the following major activities:

1. Introduction of Mass Production & Long wall Technology at suitable locatioins.

2. Replacement of manual loading by deployment of SDL/LHD and reorganization of transport system, wherever feasible.

3. Enhancement of Evacuation capacity by driving additional Shaft and Incline/Drifts.

4. Deployment of additional Coal Winning equipment. For implementing the above activities, additional capital investment of about Rs 5200 Crs is contemplated during the XI Plan period.

Total coal produced by opencast and underground mines of SCCL during 2008-09 was 32.45 Mty. and 12.08 Mty. respectively.To meet the growing demand for coal,SCCL has planned construction of 6 underground projects with a capacity of 9.193 Mty. at an outlay of Rs.1478.24 crores during XIth Plan period.

(d) Mass production technologies deploying continuous miners and longwall are aimed at achieving economies of scale with improved safety and productivity in underground mines. Similarly, in case of opencast mines, depending on the geo-mining conditions the type of equipment to be deployed is decided at the planning stage in order to achieve optimum level of production with economies of scale. Following steps are being taken / proposed to be taken to increase UG production of coal by adopting cost effective techniques in CIL:

1. Avoiding delays at all stages like procuring of equipment, mobilizing manpower and training them for specific operations of the new equipment.

2. Introduction of Maintenance and Repair Contract (MARC) with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) before deployment of the equipment.

3. Application of different new technologies on the principle of Risk-Gain sharing basis.

4. Wireless Multi media communication for UG mines

5. Thrust on automation and use of IT.

Apart from the above, Government has also taken initiative for increasing the availability of coal by allotting large number of coal blocks to private/public operators.