The Government has taken steps to expedite environment and forestry clearances, coordinate with the Ministry of Railways for enhancing availability of rail rakes and has approached State Government for necessary assistance in land acquisition and in problems relating to law and order to make CIL profitable. In addition, a series of steps have been taken by Coal India Ltd. and its subsidiaries for augmenting coal production which include (i) increasing the efficiency of the equipments, regular monitoring, mechanization as programmed and strict supervision of the existing mines and ongoing projects (ii) Capacity addition from new and future projects. This information was given by the Minister of State for Coal,Shri Pratik PrakashBapu Patil in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
The Minister said that in the area of offtake (distribution), in 2012-13, as part of indigenous coal supply plan, Ministry of Coal had finalised 470 Million Tonnes as the target for raw coal offtake. During the period Apr’12-Jan’13 CIL achieved an offtake level of 379.21 Million Tonnes (98.6% of the target) with a growth of 8% over the corresponding period of the previous year.
More than 50% of coal / coal products dispatched from CIL is transported by rail. To ensure planned dispatch, regular coordination is taken up at all levels with Railways, at various levels. With the concerted efforts of Railways and CIL, wagon loading from CIL sources in the current year (up to Jan’13) has been 180.7 rakes/day with a growth of 11% over 162.7 rakes/day achieved during corresponding period of last year.
The total amount allocated for CIL and its subsidiaries during the last three years for welfare of the employees & workers are given as under:-
( Rs in crores)
|
Company |
2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2012-13 | |||
| Revenue | Capital | Revenue | Capital | Revenue | Capital | |
| ECL | 55.63 | 0.67 | 64.25 | 0.80 | 79.10 | 0.58 |
| BCCL | 265.01 | 11.10 | 338.19 | 9.90 | 221.37 | 10.85 |
| CCL | 86.35 | 35.47 | 76.13 | 15.75 | 87.31 | 24.47 |
| NCL | 86.79 | 2.60 | 94.87 | 1.94 | 90.96 | 0.32 |
| WCL | 61.00 | 12.55 | 58.22 | 13.55 | 73.20 | 13.81 |
| SECL | 203.74 | 19.50 | 235.87 | 18.00 | 223.25 | 34.37 |
| MCL | 158.83 | 46.59 | 183.20 | 6.97 | 265.20 | 22.17 |
| CMPDIL | 22.03 | 3.25 | 26.29 | 3.08 | 26.21 | 5.89 |
| CIL/Others | 39.49 | — | 74.81 | — | 131.83 | — |
| TOTAL | 978.87 | 131.73 | 1151.83 | 69.99 | 1198.43 | 112.46 |
Shri Patil said that all coal mines in India are subject the provisions under the Mines Act, 1952 with regard to observance of safety of mine workers. The CIL has stated that it is complying with the statutory provisions as laid down in the Mines Act, 1952 and the regulations and rules framed there under. That apart the CIL has stated that it has taken several measures relating to standard of safety in its mines, which are as under:
Establishing a structured multi-disciplinary Internal Safety Organization (ISO)
CIL has a risk assessment based Safety Management Plan
Safety Audit of the mines with steps for disaster prevention:
Risk assessment for checking inundation/ rush water, check surveys, trials of geo-physical methods for detection of water bodies / proving parting etc.
Adoption of measures to control spontaneous heating, fire & explosion in mine:
Thrust on construction of sectionalization stopping, Fresh Pressure Quantity Survey, use of Gas Chromatograph to analyze mine air sampling with better accuracy, use of Local Methane Detector (LMD) for early and accurate detection of methane below ground for highly gassy mine, Risk assessment for identifying hazards related to spontaneous heating / fire potential.
For reducing Roof/Side falls accidents, the CIL adopts face mechanization to reduce exposure of workmen in active working zone, Support Plan based on Rock-mass-rating (RMR) of over-lying roof strata, Greater use of Roof Bolting/ Stitching methods of roof support, introduction of mechanized drilling by advanced roof bolting machines and use of resin capsules, Emphasis is being laid on development of indicators for detecting impending load on roof through R&D and a Laboratory has been commissioned for testing of physical and chemical properties of resin and cement capsules at CMPDI, Ranchi.
For reducing accidents at Opencast as well as on Surface of mines mine-specific traffic rules, code of practices for HEMM operators, maintenance staff and standard of procedures related to safe operation of various mining operation, risk assessment & Management, training of contractor’s workers involved in transporting jobs and simulation based training for tipper & dumper operators / HEMM operator have been introduced. Special drives are conducted to assess the compliance of safety norms. Annual safety fortnight is also observed.
Other safety measures initiated recently include – Special training programme for safety officers / key mining officials directly engaged in mine safety by SIMTARS, Australia accredited trainers. Safer high-wall mining has been started at Sharda Opencast Mine of SECL. Coal mine safety related information is being disseminated through a quarterly safety bulletin from CIL.