In a first the ‘43rd Foundation Day’ of Coal India Limited (CIL) held today was telecast live on the company’s Facebook Page facilitating the employees of CIL spread across eight states of the country to watch the event live. The webcast was seen by workers and employees of almost all projects of CIL.
The morning session was chaired by Sri Susheel Kumar, Secretary, Coal. Sri PK Sengpta, ex- Chairman, CIL was the guest of honour. Outstanding performers of the company were awarded. In another first, Best General Managers of areas and Best Project Officers for outstanding performance in coal production and coal off-take during the April-September 2017 period were awarded. A total of 67 Awards have been presented during this year’s event.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Susheel Kumar said that the Ministry of Coal has fixed 4 priorities for CIL – quality, safety, environmental management and clean coal technologies. He spoke about supply of quality coal to the consumers. The slippage between promised quality and delivered quality has to go. He said safety of miners is non-negotiable and environmental norms have to be followed diligently. He said that CIL has to do everything possible to reduce specific coal consumption – that is the amount of coal burned to produce one unit of power – so that there is less burning of coal and less carbon emission. Shri Kumar said Coal India should generate greater profits by better efficiency and larger volumes. Construction of washeries are to be accorded a high priority. Clean coal technologies like Coal to Liquid, Coal to Polychemicals / methanol etc. are to be adopted in a big way.
The inaugural session was attended by doyens of coal mining industry-retired CMDs of CIL / subsidiaries and FDs.An interactive session, conducted for the first time, was presided over by Shri Susheel Kumar, Secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Coal and Shri Gopal Singh, Chairman CIL coordinated the session. CMDs of coal companies and past Chairmen of the company discussed issues relating to ramping up the coal production, supplies, technology upgradation, safety, coal conservation, diversification and environmental sustainability. Sri Gopal Singh, Chairman, CIL exhorted employees past and present to email their suggestion for improvement of the company to his e mail address, so that a concrete plan could be finalized and worked upon.
Shri Gopal Singh said that the energy sector of the country is on the cusp of transformation and coal based power generation shall go up. Currently 73% of the power generation of the country is coal based. The large planned new coal based thermal capacity is likely to put pressure on coal resources. Coal based power generation capacity of 125 GW in 2012 is likely to go up to more than 330-441 GW by 2040 (192 GW in FY 2017). The demand for these plants is likely to be first met by domestic coal, which will require quick exploitation of our reserves. All the above calls for fuller coal resource assessment, optimum mining and efficient use.
The share of coal in India’s commercial primary energy supply was 55% in 2015-16 and is expected to remain high at 48-54% in 2040. Sustained levels of high domestic production would greatly advance India’s energy security. Coal gasification technology and methanol economy also hold value for India to commercially tap our coal resources. Shri Gopal Singh said that the company is pushing hard to meet the 600 Million Tonne (MTs) production target for the fiscal 2017-18 and the target of 1 Billion Tonne production mark for 2019-20. He spoke of the importance of 6Es for success of CIL – Energy, Employment, Environment, Economy, Efficiency and Effectiveness.
The session concluded with a motivational talk by Sri PS Rathore.
The evening session of the 43rd CIL Foundation Day will be attended by Sri Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Union Minister for Railways & Coal who will address the employees of CIL and give awards to the outstanding performers – individual and institutional. The event will be held in Science City Auditorium, Kolkata.