Coal production should grow by 10 per cent per annum to realise the upwardly revised production target of increasing the coal output to 80 million tonnes by 2020, said N. Sridhar, Chairman and Managing Director, Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL).
This is imperative to cater to the coal needs of the proposed thermal power projects with a total capacity of 8,000 MWs in Telangana State and meet the coal supply commitments of the company with a futuristic perspective.
The proposed thermal power stations require a whopping 40 million tonnes of coal, he noted.
He was speaking at the Republic Day ceremony in the coal town of Kothagudem on Monday.
Efforts are underway to secure some of the coal blocks in Odisha and Chhattisgarh for undertaking coal mining in the neighbouring States by the State-owned SCCL.
Focus
Special focus has been laid to explore the possibilities of taking up coal mining abroad as suggested by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, he said, adding that the company is contemplating to start 17 new coalmines/projects in the coal belt region spread in Khammam, Karimnagar, Adilabad and Warangal districts in the near future.
In the present financial year (2014-15), the company has achieved 39.07 million tonnes of coal production against the set annual target of 55 million tonnes.
Every employee of the company should perform to the best of his ability to enable the company reach the stipulated production target of 15.93 million tonnes in the remaining period of current fiscal, he said.
Top priority
Mr. Sridhar said the company accorded top priority to complete the construction of the Singareni thermal power project at Jaipur in Adilabad district by the end of the present calendar year to augment power supply.
He listed out various welfare initiatives taken by the company management including implementation of Telangana increment.
The SCCL Directors S Vivekanand, B Ramesh Kumar, A Manohar Rao and P Ramesh Babu, TGBKS, SCCL’s recognised union, general secretary M Raji Reddy and others were present.
Mr. Sridhar presented awards to the meritorious employees of the company on the occasion.
