Saraipali project of South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) has started coal production after facing frequent setbacks. Mining operations were commenced yesterday in the presence of CMD AP Panda.
The open cast mine located in Budbud-Rahadih village of Pali development block is being opened under Korba coalfields and has been subjected to delay since the project was initiated back in 2004.
Land clearance was awarded in the year 2007 but due to the dispute over compensation and job, the mine could not extract a lump coal. However, work of extracting soil has been going on continuously for the past two years.
Consequently, after concentrated efforts made by the officials to settle the matter, the mine has been put into operation. The mine is set to produce 1.40 mn t coal annually. Though there will be less production initially, the output would increase gradually and attain its peak capacity.
On the production front, SECL is lagging behind MCL in terms of largest coal producing subsidiary of Coal India in FY ’21. The company has recently breached 100 mn t production mark on 20 Jan ’20, while the same milestone was attained by MCL in Dec ’20.
The opening of new mine would help SECL to enhance its coal production. Notably, total production in the first 9 months (Apr-Dec ’20) has reached 90.7 mn t, down by 5% y-o-y from 95.2 mn t in Apr-Dec ’19 period.
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