In the wake of drastic fall in coal production at Talcher Coalfield which accounts for about 60 per cent coal output of Mahanadi Coalfield Limited (MCL), the Coal India Chairman N.C. Jha and CIL Director (personnel) R. Mohan Das rushed to Talcher on Wednesday to take stock of the situation.
They had marathon review meeting with the MCL Chairman cum Managing Director A. N. Sahay, all directors and general managers of the coal company. They also met local MLA Braja Kishore Pradhan and sought his cooperation to boost coal output as the production in the coalfield has been severely hit by agitations by local villagers led by local MP and MLA on various issues almost on a daily basis. The CIL top brass also met trade union leaders and transport company officials in a bid to augment coal output and dispatch.
It is for the first time that the coalfield, the largest in India, is recording negative production, not to speak of achieving the target, due to economic blockades. Hingula area, consisting of two mines, is worst performer with highest negative growth compared to last year. Due to adverse situation, MCL this year is not in a position to achieve even the last year’s production figures of 104 million tonne.
